Reports of four extempore discourses delivered by Mr. T. Subba Row, B. A., B. I before the delegates attending the
Convention of the Theosophical Society at Adyar Madras December 27th—31st, 1886,
THE THEOSOPHIST p.299 [FEBRUARY 1887]

NOTES ON THE BHAGAVAD GITA.
I.

BEFORE proceeding with the subject, I think it necessary to make a few preliminary remarks. All of you know that our Society is established upon a cosmopolitan basis. We are not wedded to any particular creed or to any particular system of religious philosophy. We consider ourselves as mere enquirers. Every great system of philosophy is brought before us for the purpose of investigation. At the present time we are not at all agreed upon any particular philosophy which could be preached as the philosophy of our Society. This is no doubt a very safe position to take at
the commencement, But from all this it does not follow that we are to be enquirers and enquirers only. We shall, no doubt, be able to find out the fundamental principles of all philosophy and base upon them a system which is likely to satisfy our wants and aspirations. You will kindly bear this in mind, and not take my views as the views of the Society, or as the views of any other authority higher than myself. I shall simply put them forward for what they are worth. They are the results of my own investigations into various systems of philosophy and no higher authority is
alleged for them. It is only with this view that I mean to put forward the few remarks I have to make.
    You will remember that I gave an introductory lecture last time when we met here and pointed out to you the fundamental notion which ought to be borne in mind in trying to understand the Bhagavad Gita, I need not recapitulate all that I then said; it will be simply necessary to remind you that Krishna was intended to represent the Logos, which I shall hereafter explain at length; and that Arjuna, who was called Nara, was intended to represent the human monad.
    The Bhagavad Gita, as it at present stands is essentially practical in its character and teachings, like the discourses of all religious teachers who have appeared on the scene of the world to give a few practical directions to mankind for their spiritual guidance. Just as the sayings of Christ, the discourses of Buddha,. and the preachings of various other philosophers which have come down to us, are essentially didactic in character and practical in their tone, is the Bhagavad Gita. But these teachings will not be understood—indeed, in course of time, they are even likely to be misunderstood—unless their basis is constantly kept in view. The Bhagavad Gita starts from certain premises, which are not explained at
length,—they are simply alluded to here and there, and quoted for the purpose of enforcing the doctrine, or as authorities, and Krishna does not go into the details of the philosophy which is their foundation. Still there is a philosophical basis beneath his teachings, and unless that basis is carefully surveyed, we cannot understand the practical applications of the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, or even test them in the only way in which they can be tested.
    Before proceeding further, I find it absolutely necessary to preface my discourse with an introductory lecture, giving the outlines of this system of philosophy which I have said is the basis of the practical teaching of Krishna. This philosophy I cannot gather or deduce from the Bhagavad
Gita itself; but I can show that the premises with which it starts are therein indicated with sufficient clearness.
    This is a very vast subject, a considerable part of which I cannot at all touch; but I shall lay down a few fundamental principles which are more or less to be considered as axiomatic in their character—you may call them postulates for the time being—so many as are absolutely necessary for the purpose of understanding the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita. I shall not attempt to prove every philosophical principle I am about to lay down in the same manner in which a modern scientist attempts to prove all the laws he has gathered from an examination of nature.
    In the case of a good many of these principles, inductive reasoning and experiment are out of the question; it will be next to impossible to test them in the ordinary course of life or in the ways available to the generality of mankind. But, nevertheless, these principles do rest upon very high authority. When carefully explained, they will be found to be the basis of every system of philosophy which human intellect has ever constructed, and furthermore, will also be found,—I venture to promise—to be perfectly consistent with all that has been found out by man in the field of science; at any rate they give us a working hypothesis— a hypothesis which we may safely adopt at the commencement of our labours, for the time being. This hypothesis may be altered if you are quite certain that any new facts necessitate its alteration, but at any rate it is a working hypothesis which seems to explain all the facts which it is necessary for us to understand before we proceed upon a study of the gigantic and complicated machinery of nature.
    Now to proceed with this hypothesis. First of all, I have to point out to you that any system of practical instruction for spiritual guidance will have to be judged, first with reference to the nature and condition of man and the capabilities that are locked up in him; secondly, with reference to the cosmos and the forces to which man is subject and the circumstances under which he has to progress.
    Unless these two points are sufficiently investigated, it will be hardly possible for us to ascertain the highest goal that man is capable of reaching; and unless there is a definite aim or a goal to reach, or an ideal towards which man has to progress, it will be almost impossible to say whether any particular instruction is likely to conduce to the welfare of mankind or not. Now I say these instructions can only be understood by examining the nature of the cosmos, the nature of man, and the goal towards which all evolutionary progress is tending.
    Before I proceed further, let me tell you that I do not mean to adopt the sevenfold classification of man that has up to this time been adopted in Theosophical writings generally. Just as I would classify the principles in man, I would classify the principles in the solar system and in the cosmos. There is a certain amount of similarity and the law of correspondence—as it is called by some writers—whatever may be the reason,—is the law which obtains in a good many of the phenomena of nature, and very often by knowing what happens in the case of the microcosm, we are enabled to infer what takes place in that of the macrocosm. Now as regards the number of principles and their relation between themselves, this sevenfold classification which I do not mean to adopt, seems to me to be a very unscientific and misleading one. No doubt the number seven seems to play an important part in the cosmos, though it is neither a power nor a spiritual force; but it by no means necessarily follows that in every case we must adopt that number. What an amount of confusion has this seven-fold classification given rise to! These seven principles, as generally enumerated, do not correspond to any natural lines of cleavage, so to speak, in the constitution of man. Taking the seven principles in the order in which they are generally given, the physical body is separated from the so-called life-principle; the latter from what is called linga sarira (very often confounded with sukshma sarira). Thus the physical body is divided into three principles. Now here we may make any number of divisions; if you please, you may as well enumerate nerve-force, blood, and bones, as so many distinct parts, and make the number of divisions as large as sixteen or thirty-five. But still the physical body does not constitute a separate entity apart from the life principle, nor the life principle apart from the physical body, and so with the linga sarira. Again, in the so-called “astral body,” the fourth principle when separated from the fifth soon disintegrates, and the so-called fourth principle is almost lifeless unless combined with the fifth. This system of division does not give us any distinct principles which have something like independent, existence. And what is more, this sevenfold classification is almost conspicuous by its absence in many of our Hindu books. At any rate a considerable portion of it is almost unintelligible to Hindu minds; and so it is better to adopt the time-honored classification of four principles, for the simple reason that it divides man into so many entities as are Capable of having separate existences, and that these four principles are associated with four upadhis which are further associated in their turn with four distinct states of consciousness And so for all , practical purposes—for the purpose of explaining the doctrines of religious philosophy—I have found it far more convenient to adhere to the fourfold classification than to adopt the septenary one and multiply principles in a manner more likely to introduce confusion than to throw light upon the subject I shall therefore adopt the four-fold classification, and when I adopt it in the case of man, I shall also adopt it in the case of the solar system, and also in the case of the principles that are to be found in the cosmos. By cosmos I mean not the solar system only, but the whole of the cosmos.
    In enumerating these principles I shall proceed in the order of evolution, which seems to be the most convenient one. I shall point out what position each of these principles occupies in the evolution of nature, and in passing from the First Cause to the organized human being of the present day, I shall give you the basis of the fourfold classification that I have promised to adopt.
    The first principle, or rather the first postulate, which I have to lay down is the existence of what is called Parabrahmam. Of course there is hardly a system of philosophy which has ever denied the existence of the First Cause. Even the so-called atheists have never denied it. Various creeds have adopted various theories as to the nature of this First Cause. All sectarian disputes and differences have arisen, not from a difference of opinion as to the existence of the First Cause, but from the differences of the attributes that man’s intellect has constantly tried to impose upon it. Is it possible to know anything of the First Cause? No doubt it is possible to know something about it. It is possible to know all about its manifestations, though it is next to impossible for human knowledge to penetrate into its inmost essence and say what it really is in itself. All religious philosophers are agreed that this First Cause is omnipresent and eternal. Further, it is subject to periods of activity and passivity. When cosmic pralaya comes, it is inactive, and when evolution commences, it becomes active.
    But even the real reason for this activity and passivity is unintelligible to our minds. It is not matter or anything like matter. It is not even consciousness, because all that we know of consciousness is with reference to a definite organism. What consciousness is or will be when entirely separated from upadhi is a thing utterly inconceivable to us, not only to us but to any other intelligence which has the notion of self or ego in it, or which has a distinct individualized existence. Again it is not even atma the word atma is used in various senses in our books. It is constantly associated with the idea of self. But Parabrahmam is not so associated; so it is not ego, it is not non-ego, nor is it consciousness—or to use a phraseology adopted by our old philosophers, it is not gnatha, not gnanam and not gnayam. Of course every entity in this cosmos must come under one or the ether of these three headings. But Parabrahmam does not come under any one of them. Nevertheless, it seems to be the one source of which gnatha, gnanam, and gnayam are the manifestations or modes of existence. There are a few other aspects which it is necessary for me to bring to your notice, because those aspects are noticed in the Bhagavad Gita.
    In the case of every objective consciousness we know that what we call matter or non-ego is after all a mere bundle of attributes. But whether we arrive at our conclusion by logical inference, or whether we derive it from innate consciousness, we always suppose that there is an entity,—the real essence of the thing upon which all these attributes are placed,—which bears these attributes, as it were, the essence itself being unknown to us.
    All Vedantic writers of old have formulated the principle that Parabrahmam is the one essence of almost everything in the cosmos. When our old writers said “Sarvam khalvidambrahma,” they did not mean that all those attributes which we associate with the idea of non-ego should be considered as Brahmam, nor did they mean that Brahmam should be looked upon as the upadana karanam in the same way that earth and water are the upadana karanam of this pillar. They simply meant that the real thing in the bundle of attributes that our consciousness takes note of, the essence which seems to be the bottom and the foundation of all phenomena is Parabrahmam, which, though not itself an object of knowledge, is yet capable of supporting and giving rise to every kind of object and every kind of existence which becomes an object of knowledge.
    Now this Parabrahmam which exists before all things in the cosmos is the one essence from which starts into existence a centre of energy, which I shall for the present call the Logos.
    This Logos may be called in the language of old writers either Eswara or Pratyagatma or Sabda Brahmam. It is called the Verbum or the Word by the Christians, and it is the divine Christos who is eternally in the bosom of his father. It is called Avalokiteswara by the Buddhists; at any rate, Avalokiteswara in one sense is the Logos in general, though no doubt in the Chinese doctrine there are also other ideas with which it is associated. In almost every doctrine they have formulated the existence of a centre of spiritual energy which is unborn and eternal, and which exists in a latent condition in the bosom of Parabrahmam at the time of pralaya, and starts as a centre of conscious energy at the time of cosmic activity. It is the first gnatha or the ego in the cosmos, and every other ego and every other self, as I shall hereafter point out, is but its reflection or manifestation. In its inmost nature it is not unknowable as Parabrahmam, but it is an object of the highest knowledge that man is capable of acquiring. It is the one great mystery in the cosmos, with reference to which all the initiations and all the systems of philosophy have been devised. What it really is in its inmost nature will not be a subject for consideration in my lecture, but there are some stand-points from which we have to look at it to understand the teachings in the Bhagavad Gita.
    The few propositions that I am going to lay down with reference to this principle are these. It is not material or physical in its constitution, and it is not objective; it is not different in substance, as it were, or in essence, from Parabrahmam, and yet at the same time it is different from it in having an individualized existence. It exists in a latent condition in the bosom of Parabrahmam, at the time of pralaya just, for instance, as the sense of ego is latent at the time of sushupti or sleep. It is often described in our books as satchidanandam, and by this epithet you must understand that it is sat, and that it is chit and anandam.
    It has consciousness and an individuality of its own. I may as well say that it is the only personal God, perhaps, that exists in the cosmos. But not to cause any misunderstanding I must also state that such centres of energy are almost innumerable in the bosom of Parabrahmam. It must not be supposed that this Logos is but a single centre of energy which is manifested by Parabrahmam. There are innumerable others. Their number is almost infinite. Perhaps even in this centre of energy called the Logos there may be differences; that is to say, Parabrahmam can manifest itself as a Logos not only in one particular, definite form, but in various forms. At any rate, whatever may be the variations of form that may exist, it is unnecessary to go minutely into that subject for the purpose of understanding the Bhagavad Gita. The Logos is here considered from the standpoint of the Logos in the abstract, and not from that of any particular Logos, in giving all those instructions to Arjuna which are of a general application. The other aspects of the Logos will be better understood if I point out to you the nature of the other principles that start into existence subsequent to the existence of this Logos or Verbum.
    Of course, this is the first manifestation of Parabrahmam, the first ego that appears in the cosmos, the beginning of all creation and the end of all evolution. It is the one source of all energy in the cosmos, and the basis of all branches of knowledge, and what is more, it is, as it were, the tree of life, because the chaitanyam which animates the whole cosmos springs from it. When once this ego starts into existence as a conscious being having objective consciousness of its own, we shall have to see what the result of this objective consciousness will be with reference to the one absolute and unconditioned existence from which it starts into manifested existence. From its objective standpoint, Parabrahmam appears to it as Mulaprakriti. Please bear this in mind and try to understand my words, for here is the root of the whole difficulty about Purusha and Prakriti felt by the various writers on Vedantic philosophy. Of course this Mulaprakriti is material to it, as any material object is material to us. This Mulaprakriti is no more Parabrahmam than the bundle of attributes of this pillar is the pillar itself; Parabrahmam is an unconditioned and absolute reality, and Mulaprakriti is a sort of veil thrown over it, Parabrahmam by itself cannot be seen as it is. It is seen by the Logos with a veil thrown over it, and that veil is the mighty expanse of cosmic matter. It is the basis of all material manifestations in the cosmos.
    Again, Parabrahmam, after having appeared on the one hand as the ego, and on the other as Mulaprakriti, acts as the one energy through the Logos. I shall explain to you what I mean by this acting through the Logos by a simile. Of course you must not stretch it very far; it is intended simply to help you to form some kind of conception of the Logos. For instance, the sun may be compared with the Logos; light and heat radiate from it; but its heat and energy exist in some unknown condition in space, and are diffused throughout space as visible light and heat through its instrumentality. Such is the view taken of the sun by the ancient philosophers. In the same manner Parabrahmam radiates from the Logos, and manifests itself as the light and energy of the Logos. Now we see the first manifestation of Parabrahmam is a Trinity, the highest Trinity that we are capable of understanding. It consists of Mulaprakriti, Eswara or the Logos, and the conscious energy of the Logos, which is its power and light; and here we have the three principles upon which the whole cosmos seems to be based. First, we have matter; secondly, we have force— at any rate, the foundation of all the forces in the cosmos; and thirdly, we have the ego or the one root of self, of which every other kind of self is but a manifestation or a reflection. You must bear in mind that there is a clear line of distinction drawn between Mulaprakriti, (which is, as it were, the veil thrown over Parabrahmam from the objective point of view of the Logos) and this energy which is radiated from it. Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, as I shall hereafter point out, draws a clear line of distinction between the two; and the importance of the distinction will be seen when you take note of the various misconceptions to which a confusion of the two has given rise in various systems of philosophy. Now bear in mind that this Mulaprakriti which is the veil of Parabrahmam is called Avyakam in Sankhya philosophy. It is also called Kutastha in the Bhagavad Gita, simply because it is undifferentiated; even the literal meaning of this word conveys more or less the idea that it is undifferentiated as contrasted with differentiated matter. This light from the Logos is called Daiviprakriti in the Bhagavad Gita; it is the Gnostic Sophia and the Holy Ghost of the Christians. It is a mistake to suppose that Krishna, when considered as a Logos, is a manifestation of that Avyaktam, as is generally believed by a certain school of philosophers. He is on the other hand Parabrahmam manifested; and the Holy Ghost in its first origin emanates through the Christos. The reason why it is called the mother of the Christos is this. When Christos manifests himself in man as his Saviour it is from the womb, as it were, of this divine light that he is born. So it is only when the Logos is manifested in man that he becomes the child of this light of the Logos—this maya ;—but in the course of cosmic manifestation this Daiviprakriti, instead of being the mother of the Logos, should, strictly speaking, be called the daughter of the Logos. To make this clearer, I may point out that this light is symbolized as Gayatri. You know Gayatri is not Prakriti. It is considered as the light of the Logos, and in order to convey to our minds a definite image, it is represented as the light of the sun. But the sun from which it springs is not the physical sun that we see, but the central sun of the light of wisdom, hence we do not use in our sandhyavandanam any symbol representing the physical sun. This light is further called the mahachaitanyam of the whole cosmos. It is the life of the whole of nature. It will be observed that what manifests itself as light, as consciousness, and as force, is just one and the same energy. All the various kinds of forces that we know of, all the various modes of consciousness with which we are acquainted, and life manifested in every kind of organism, are but the manifestations of one and the same power, that power being the one that springs from the Logos originally. It will have to be surveyed in all these aspects, because the part that it really plays in the cosmos is one of considerable importance.
As far as we have gone we have arrived at, firstly, Parabrahmam; secondly, Eswara; thirdly, the light manifested through Eswara, which is called Daiviprakriti in the Bhagavad Gita, and lastly that Mulaprakriti which seems to be, as I have said, a veil thrown over Parabrahmam. Now creation or evolution is commenced by the intellectual energy of the Logos. The universe in its infinite details and with its wonderful laws does not spring into existence by mere chance, nor does it spring into existence merely on account of the potentialities locked up in Mulaprakriti. It comes into existence mainly through the instrumentality of the one source of energy and power existing in the cosmos, which we have named the Logos, and which is the one existing representative of the power and wisdom of Parabrahmam. Matter acquires all its attributes and all its powers which, in course of time, give such wonderful results in the course of evolution, by the action of this light that emanates from the Logos upon Mulaprakriti. From our standpoint, it will be very difficult to conceive what kind of matter that may be which has none of those tendencies which are commonly associated with all kinds of matter, and which only acquires all the various properties manifested by it on receiving, as it were, this light and energy from the Logos. This light of the Logos is the link, so to speak, between objective matter and the subjective thought of Eswara. It is called in several Buddhist books fohat, It is the one instrument with which the Logos works.
    What springs up in the Logos at first is simply an image, a conception of what it is to be in the cosmos. This light or energy catches the image and impresses it upon the cosmic matter which is already manifested. Thus spring into existence all the manifested solar systems. Of course the four principles we have enumerated are eternal, and are common to the whole cosmos. There is not a place in the whole cosmos where these four energies are absent ; and these are the elements of the four-fold classification that I have adopted in dealing with the principles of the mighty cosmos itself.
    Conceive this manifested solar system in all its principles and in its totality to constitute the sthula sarira of the whole cosmos. Look on this light which emanates from the Logos as corresponding to the sukshma sarira of the cosmos. Conceive further that this Logos which is the one germ from which the whole cosmos springs,— which contains the image of the universe,—stands in the position of the karana sarira of the cosmos, existing as it does before the cosmos comes into existence. And lastly conceive that Parabrahmam bears the same relation to the Logos as our atma does to our Karana sarira.
    These, it must be remembered, are the four general principles of the infinite cosmos, not of the solar system These principles must not be confounded with those enumerated in dealing with the meaning of Pranava in Vedantic Philosophy and the Upanishads. In one sense Pranava represents the macrocosm and in another sense the microcosm. From one point of view Pranava is also intended to mean the infinite cosmos itself, but it is not in that light that it is generally explained in our Vedantic books, and it will not be necessary for me to explain this aspect of Pranaua. With reference to this subject I may however allude to one other point, which explains the reason why Eswara is called Verbum or Logos: why in fact it is called Sabda Brahmam The explanation I am going to give you will appear thoroughly mystical. But if mystical it has a tremendous significance when properly understood. Our old writers said that Vach is of four kinds. These are called para, pasyanti, madhyama, vaikhari. This statement you will find in the Rig Veda itself and in several of the Upanishads. Vaikhari Vach is what we utter. Every kind of vaikhari Vach exists in it madhyama, further in its pasyanti, and ultimately in its para form. The reason why this Pranava is called Vach is this, that these four principles of the great cosmos correspond to these four forms of Vach. Now the whole manifested solar system exists in its sukshma form in this light or energy of the Logos, because its image is caught up and transferred to cosmic matter, and again the whole cosmos must necessarily exist in the one source of energy from which this light emanates. The whole cosmos in its objective form is vaikhari Vach, the light of the Logos is the madhyama form, and the Logos itself the pasyanti form, and Parabrahmam the para aspect of that Vach. It is by the light of this explanation that we must try to understand certain statements made by various philosophers to the effect that the manifested cosmos is the Verbum manifested as cosmos.
    These four principles bear the same relationship to one another as do these four conditions or manifestations of Vach.
    I shall now proceed to an examination of the principles that constitute the solar system itself. Here I find it useful to refer to the explanations generally given with reference to Pranava and the meaning of its matras. Pranava is intended to represent man and also the manifested cosmos, the four principles in the one corresponding to the four in the other. The four principles in the manifested cosmos may be enumerated in this order. First, Vishwanara. Now this Vishwanara is not to be looked upon as merely the manifested objective world, but as the one physical basis from which the whole objective world starts into existence. Beyond this and next to this is what is called Hiranyagarbha. This again is not to be confounded with the astral world, but must be looked upon as the basis of the astral world, bearing the same relationship to the astral world as Vishwanara bears to the objective world. Next to this there is what is now and then called Eswara; but as this word is likely to mislead, I shall not call it Eswara, but by another name, also sanctioned by usage—Sutratma. And beyond these three it is generally stated there is Parabrahmam. As regards this fourth principle differences of opinion have sprung up, and from these differences any amount of difficulty has arisen. For this principle, we ought to have, as we have for the cosmos, some principle or entity out of which the other three principles start into existence and which exist in it and by reason of it. If such be the case, no doubt we ought to accept the Avyaktam of the Sankhyas as this fourth principle. This Avyaktam is the Mulaprakriti which I have already explained as the veil of Parabrahmum considered from the objective standpoint of the Logos, and this is the view adopted by the majority of the Sankhyas. Into the details of the evolution of the solar system itself, it is not necessary for me to enter. You may gather some idea as to the way in which the various elements start into existence from these three principles into which Mulaprakriti is differentiated, by examining the lecture delivered by Professor Crookes a short time ago upon the so-called elements of modern chemistry. This lecture will at least give you some idea of the way in which the so-called elements spring from Vishwanara, the most objective of these three principles, which seems to stand in the place of the protyle mentioned in that lecture. Except in a few particulars, this lecture seems to give the outlines of the theory of physical evolution on the plane of Vishwanara and is, as far as I know, the nearest approach made by modern investigators to the real occult theory on the subject.
    These principles, in themselves, are so far beyond our common experience as to become objects of merely theoretical conception and inference rather than objects of practical knowledge. Of course if it is so difficult for us to understand these different principles as they exist in nature, it will be still more difficult for us to form any definite idea as to their basis. But at any rate the evolution and the work of differentiation of these principles is a matter which appertains more properly to the science of physics, than to the science of spiritual ethics, and the fundamental principles that I have laid down will suffice for our present purpose. You must conceive, without my going through the whole process of evolution, that out of these three principles, having as their one foundation Mulaprakriti, the whole manifested solar system with all the various objects in it has started into being. Bear in mind also that the one energy which works out the whole process of evolution is that light of the Logos which is diffused through all these principles and all their manifestations. It is the one light that starts with a certain definite impulse communicated by the intellectual energy of the Logos and works out the whole programme from the commencement to the end of evolution. If we begin our examination from the lowest organisms, it will be seen that this one life is, as it were, undifferentiated. Now when we take, for instance, the mineral kingdom, or all those objects in the cosmos which we cannot strictly speaking call living organisms, we find this light undifferentiated. In the course of time when we reach plant life it becomes differentiated to a considerable extent, and organisms are formed which tend more and more towards differentiation. And when we reach animal life, we find that the differentiation is more complete, and this light moreover manifests itself as consciousness. It must not be supposed that onsciousness is a sort of independent entity created by this light; it is a mode or a manifestation of the light itself, which is life. By the time we reach man, this light becomes differentiated and forms that centre or ego that gives rise to all the mental and physical progress that we see in the process of cosmic evolution. This differentiation results in the first instance from the environment of particular organisms. The various actions evoked in a given organism and those which it evokes in other organisms or in its surroundings, and the actions which it generates in itself at that stage, can hardly be called Karma; still its life and, actions may perhaps have a certain effect in determining the future manifestations of that life-energy which is acting in it. By the time we reach man, this one light becomes differentiated into certain monads, and hence individuality is fixed.
    As individuality is rendered more and more definite, and becomes more and more differentiated from other individualities by man’s own surroundings, and the intellectual and moral impulses he generates and the effect of his own Karma, the principles of which he is composed become more defined. There are four principles in man. First, there is the physical body, about which we need not go into details, as they appertain more to the field of enquiry of the physiologist than to that of the religious investigator. No doubt certain branches of physiology do become matters of considerable importance in dealing with certain subjects connected with Yoga Philosophy; but we need not discuss those questions at present.
    Next there is the sukshma sarira. This bears to the physical body the same relationship which the astral world bears to the objective plane of the solar system. It is sometimes called kamarupa in our theosophical dissertations. This unfortunate expression has given rise also to a misconception that the principle called kama represents this astral body itself, and is transformed into it. But it is not so. It is composed of elements of quite a different nature. Its senses are not so differentiated and localized as in the physical body, and, being composed of finer materials, its powers of action and thought are considerably greater than those found in the physical organism. Karana sarira can only be conceived as a centre of pragna—a centre of force or energy into which the third principle (or sutratma) of the cosmos was differentiated by reason of the same impulse which has brought about the differentiation of all these cosmic principles. And now the question is, what is it that completes this trinity and makes it a quaternary? Of course this light of the Logos. As I have already said, it is a sort of light that permeates every kind of organism, and so in this trinity it is manifested in every one of the upadhis as the real jiva or the ego of man. Now in order to enable you to have a clear conception of the matter, I shall express my ideas in figurative language. Suppose, for instance, we compare the Logos itself to the sun. Suppose I take a clear mirror in my hand, catch a reflection of the sun, make the rays reflect from the surface of the mirror—say upon a polished metallic plate— and make the rays which are reflected in their turn from the plate fall upon a wall. Now we have three images, one being clearer than the other, and one being more resplendent than the other, I can compare the clear mirror to karana sarira, the metallic plate to the astral body, and the wall to the physical body. In each case a definite bimbam is formed, and that bimbam or reflected image is for the time being considered as the self. The bimbam formed on the astral body gives rise to the idea of self in it when considered apart from the physical body; the bimbam formed in the karana sarira gives rise to the most prominent form of individuality that man possesses. You will further see that these various bimbams are not of the same lustre. The lustre of this bimbam you may compare to man’s knowledge, and it grows feebler and feebler as the reflection is transferred from a clear upadhi to one less clear, and so on till you get to the physical body. Our knowledge depends mainly on the condition of the upadhi, and you will also observe that just as the image of the sun on a clear surface of water may be disturbed and rendered invisible by the motion of the water itself, so by a man’s passions and emotions he may render the image of his true self disturbed and distorted in its appearance, and even make the image so indistinct as to be altogether unable to perceive its light.
    You will further see that this idea of self is a delusive one. Almost every great writer on Vedantic philosophy, as also both Buddha and
Sankaracharya, have distinctly alleged that it is a delusive idea. You must not suppose that these great men said that the idea of self was delusive for the same reason which led John Stuart Mill to suppose that the idea of self is manufactured from a concatenation or series of mental states. It is not a manufactured idea, as it were, not a secondary idea which has arisen from any series of mental states. It is said to be delusive, as I have been trying to explain, because the real self is the Logos itself, and what is generally considered as the ego is but its reflection. If you say, however, that a reflected image cannot act as an individual being, I have simply to remind you that my simile cannot be carried very far. We find that each distinct image can form a separate centre. You will see in what difficulty it will land us if you deny this, and hold the self to be a separate entity in itself. If so, while I am in my objective state of consciousness, my ego is something existing as a real entity in the physical body itself. How is it possible to transfer the same to the astral body? Then, again, it has also to be transferred to the karana sarira. We shall find a still greater difficulty in transferring this entity to the Logos itself, and you may depend upon it that unless a man’s individuality or ego can be transferred to the Logos immortality is only a name. In certain peculiar cases it will be very difficult to account for a large number of phenomena on the basis that this self is some kind of centre of energy or some existing monad transferred from upadh to upadhi.
    In the opinion of the Vedantists, and, as I shall hereafter point out, in the opinion of Krishna also, man is a quaternary. He has first the physical body or sthula sarira, secondly the astral body or sukhma sarira, thirdly the seat of his higher individuality, the karana sarira, and fourthly and lastly, his atma. There is no doubt a difference of opinion as to the exact nature of the fourth principle as I have already said, which has given rise to various misconceptions. Now, for instance, according to some followers of the Sankhya philosophy, at any rate those who are called nireswara sankhyas, man has these three principles, with their Avyaktam to complete the quaternary. This Avyaktam is Mulaprakriti, or rather Parabrahmam manifested in Mulaprakriti as its upadhi. In this view Parabrahmam is really the fourth principle, the highest principle in man; and the other three principles simply exist in it and by reason of it. That is to say, this Avyaktam is the one principle which is the root of all self, which becomes differentiated in the course of evolution, or rather which appears to be differentiated in the various organisms, which subsists in every kind of upadhi, and which is the real spiritual entity which a man has to reach.
    Now let us see what will happen according to this hypothesis. The Logos is entirely shut out; it is not taken notice of at all; and that is the reason why these people have been called nireswara sankhyas (not because they have denied the existence of Parabrahmam, for this they did not—but) because they have not taken notice of the Logos, and its light—the two most important entities in nature,—in classifying the principles of man.


 

THE THEOSOPHIST. p. 359 [MARCH 1887]

NOTES ON THE BHAGAVAD GITA,
II.

IN my last lecture I tried to trace the course of the first beginnings of cosmic evolution, and in doing so I indicated with a certain amount of definiteness the four main principles that operate in the infinite cosmos. I also enumerated the four principles that seemed to form the basis of the whole manifested solar system, and defined the nature of the four principles into which I have divided the constitution of man. I hope that you will bear in mind the explanations that I have given, because it is on a clear understanding of these principles that the whole Vedantic doctrine is explicable; and, moreover, on account of misconceptions introduced as regards the nature of these principles, the religious philosophies of various nations have become terribly confused, and inferences have been drawn from wrong assumptions, which would not necessarily follow from a correct understanding of these principles.
    In order to make my position clear, I have yet to make a few more remarks about some of these principles. You will remember that I have divided the solar system itself into four main principles and called them by the names assigned to them in treatises on what may be called Tharaka Yoga. Tharam, or Pranava, is also the symbol of the manifested man. And the three Matras, without the Ardhamatra, symbolize the three principles, or the three manifestations of the original Mulaprakriti in the solar system. Sankhya Yoga, properly so called, mainly deals with these three principles and the evolution from them of all material organisms. I use the word material to indicate, not only the physical and astral organisms, but also organisms on the plane higher than the astral. Much of what lies on this plane also is in my opinion physical, though perhaps it may differ in its constitution from the known forms of matter on the ordinary objective plane. The whole of this manifested solar system is, strictly speaking, within the field of physical research. As yet we have only been surveying the superficies of the outward cosmos. It is that, and that alone, which physical science has, up to this time, reached. I have not the slightest doubt that in course of time physical science will be able to penetrate deep into the underling basis, that corresponds to the Sutratma of our Vedantic writers.
    It is the province of Sankhya philosophy to trace from the three component parts of Mulaprakriti all the various physical manifestations. It must not, however, be supposed that I in any way authorize the way in which Sankhya philosophy, as at present understood, traces out the origin of these manifestations. On the contrary, there is every reason to believe that enquirers into physical science in the West, like Professor Crookes and others, will arrive at truer results than are contained in the existing systems of Sankhya philosophy known to the public. Occult science has, of course, a definite theory of its own to propound for the origin of these organisms, but that is a matter that has always been kept in the background, and the details of that theory are not necessary for the purpose of explaining the doctrines of the Bhagavad Gita. It will be
sufficient for the present to note what the field of Sankhya philosophy is, and what it is that comes within the horison of physical science.
We can form no idea as to the kind of beings that exist on the astral plane, and still less are we able to do so in the case of those beings that live on the plane anterior to the astral. To the modern mind, everything else, beyond and beside this ordinary plane of existence, is a perfect blank. But occult science does definitely formulate the existence of these finer planes of being, and the phenomena that now manifest themselves in the so-called spiritualistic seances will give us some idea of the beings living on the astral plane. It is well known that in most of our Puranas Devas are mentioned as existing in Swarga.
    All the Devaganams mentioned in the Puranas are not in Swarga. Vasus, Rudras, Adityas and some other classes are no doubt Devas strictly-so called. But Yakshas, Gandharvas, Kinnaras and several other Ganams must be included amongst the beings that exist in the plane of the astral light.
    These beings that inhabit the astral plane are called by the general name of elementals in our theosophical writings. But besides elementals, properly so-called; there are still higher beings, and it is to these latter that the name Deva is strictly applicable. Do not make the mistake of thinking that the word Deva means a god, and that because we have thirty-three crores of Devas, we therefore worship thirty-three crores of gods. This is an unfortunate blunder generally committed by Europeans. Deva is a kind of spiritual being, and because the same word is used in ordinary parlance to mean god, it by no means follows that we have and worship thirty-three crores of gods. These beings, as may be naturally inferred, have a certain affinity with one of the three component upadhis into which we have divided man.
    One organism has always a certain affinity with another organism composed of the same materials and existing on the same plane. As may naturally be expected, the astral body of man has affinity with the elementals, and the so-called karana sarira of man with the Devas. The ancient writers on Hindu philosophy have divided the cosmos into three lokas. The first is Bhuloka, the second Bhuvarloka, and the third Suvarloka. Bhuloka is the physical plane with which we are generally acquainted. Bhuvarloka is, strictly speaking, the astral plane. It is sometimes called Antariksham in the Upanishads. But this term is not to be understood as simply meaning the whole extent of the atmosphere with which we are acquainted. The word Antariksham is used, not in its general sense, but in a technical one belonging to the philosophical terminology adopted by the authors of the works in which it occurs. Suvarloka is what is generally known as Swargam. At any rate it is the Devachan of the theosophical writings. In this place, called Devachan by the Buddhists, and Swargam by the Hindus, we locate the higher orders of the so-called Devaganams.
    There is one more statement I have to make with reference to the three Upadhis in the human being. Of these what is called the karana sarira is the most important. It is so, because it is in that that the higher individuality of man exists. Birth after birth a new physical body comes into existence, and perishes when earthly life is over. The astral body, when once separated from the karana sara, may perhaps live on for some time, owing to the impulse of action and existence, already communicated to it during life, but, as these influences are cut off from the source whence they originally sprung, the force communicated, as it were, stands by itself, and sooner or later the astral organism becomes completely dissolved into its component parts. But karana sarira is a body or organism, which is capable of existing independently of the astral body. Its plane of existence is called Sutratma, because, like so many beads strung on a thread, successive personalities are strung on this karana sarira, as the individual passes through incarnation after incarnation. By personality I mean that persistent idea of self, with its definite associations, so far as those associations appertain to the experiences of one earthly incarnation.
    Of course all the associations or ideas of mental states which a human being may experience are not necessarily communicated to the astral man, much less to the karana. sarira. Of all the experiences of the physical man, the astral man, or the karana sarira beyond it, can only assimilate those whose constitution and nature are similar to its own. It is moreover but consistent with justice that all our mental states should not be preserved as most of them are concerned merely with the daily avocations, or even the physical wants of the human being, there is no object to be gained by their continued preservation. But all that goes deep into the intellectual nature of man, all the higher emotions of the human soul and the intellectual tastes generated in man with all his higher aspirations, do become impressed almost indelibly on the karana sarira. The astral body is simply the seat of the lower nature of man. His animal passions and emotions, and those ordinary thoughts which are generally connected with the physical wants of man, may no doubt communicate themselves to the astral man, but higher than this they do not go.
    This karana sarira is what passes as the real ego, which subsists through incarnation after incarnation, adding in each incarnation something to its fund of experiences, and evolving a higher individuality as the resultant of the whole process of assimilation. It is for this reason that the karana sarira is called the ego of man, and in certain systems of philosophy it is called the jiva.
    It must be clearly borne in mind that this Karana sarira is primarily the result of the action of the light of the Logos, which is its life and energy, and which is further its source of consciousness on that plane of Mulaprakriti which we have called Sutratma, and which is its physical or material basis.
    Out of the combination of these two elements, and from the action of the energy of the light emanating from the Logos upon that particular kind of matter that constitutes its physical frame, a kind of individuality is evolved.
    I have already said that individual existence, or differentiated conscious existence, is evolved out of the one current of life, which sets the evolutionary machine in motion. I pointed out that it is this very current of life that gradually gives rise to individual organisms as it proceeds on its mission. Furthermore it begins to manifest what we call conscious life, and, when we come to man, we find that his conscious individuality is clearly and completely defined by the operation of this force. In producing this result several subsidiary forces, which are generated by the peculiar conditions of time, space and environment, cooperate with this one life. What is generally called karana sarira is but the natural product of the action of those very forces that have operated to bring about this result. When once that plane of consciousness is reached in the path of progress that includes the voluntary actions of man, it will be seen that those voluntary actions not only preserve the individuality of the karana sarira, but render it more and more definite, as birth after birth farther progress is attained: they thus keep up the continued existence of the jiva as an individual monad. So in one sense the karana sarira is the result of karmic impulses. It is the child of Karma as it were. It lives with it, and will disappear if the influence of Karma can be annihilated, The astral body on the other hand is, to a great extent, the result of the physical existence of man, as far as that existence is concerned with his physical wants, associations and cravings. We may therefore suppose that the persistence of the astral body after death will, under ordinary circumstances, be more or less proportionate to the strength of these emotions and animal passions.
    Now let us enquire what, constituted as man is, are the rules to which he is generally subject, and the goal towards which all evolution is progressing. It is only after this has been determined, that we shall be in a position to see whether any special rules can be prescribed for his guidance, that are likely to render his evolutionary progress more rapid than it would otherwise be.
    What happens in the case of ordinary men after death is this. First, the karana sarira and the astral body separate themselves from the physical body: when that takes place, the physical body loses its life and energy. Yesterday I tried to explain the connection between the three bodies and the energy of life acting within them, by comparing the action of this life to the action of a sunbeam falling successively on three material objects. It will be seen from this comparison, that the light reflected on to the astral body, or rather into the astral body, is the light that radiates from the karana sarira. From the astral body it is again reflected onto the sthula sarira, constitutes its life and, energy, and developes that sense of ego that we experience in the physical body. Now it is plain that, if the karana sarira is removed, the astral body ceases to receive any reflection. The karana sarira can exist independently of the astral body, but the astral body cannot survive the separation of the karana sarira. Similarly the physical body can go on living so long as it is connected with the astral body and the karana sarira; but, when these two are removed, the physical body will perish, The only way for the life current to pass to the physical body is through the medium of the astral body. The physical body is dissolved when separated from the astral body, because the impulse that animated it is removed. As the karana sarira is on the plane of Devachan, the only place to which it can go on separation from the physical body is Devachan, or Swargam; but in separating itself from the astral body it takes with it all those impulses, that were accumulated by the karma of the man during his successive incarnations.
    These impulses subsist in it, and perhaps it does enjoy a new life in Devachan—a life unlike any with which we are acquainted, but a life quite as natural to the entity that enjoys it as our conscious existence seems to be to us now. These impulses give rise to a further incarnation, because there is a certain amount of energy locked up in them, which must find its manifestation on the physical plane. It is thus karma that leads it on from incarnation to incarnation. The natural region of the astral body is the Bhuvarloka, or astral plane. To the astral plane it goes, and there it is detained. It very rarely descends into the physical plane, for the simple reason that the physical plane has no natural attraction for it. Moreover it necessarily follows that, just as the karana sarira cannot remain on the physical plane, the astral body cannot remain there either. This astral body loses its life impulse when the karana sarira is separated from it. When once its source of life and energy is thus removed from it, it is naturally deprived of the only spring of life that can enable it to subsist. But astral matter being of a far finer constitution than physical matter, energy once communicated to it subsists for a longer time than when communicated to physical matter. When once separated from the astral body, the physical body dies very rapidly, but in the case of the astral body some time is required before complete dissolution can take place, because the impulses already communicate to it still keep the particles together, and its period of post-mortem existence is proportionate to the strength of those impulses. Till this strength is exhausted the astral body holds together. The time of its independent existence on the astral plane will thus depend on the strength of its craving for life and, the intensity of its unsatisfied desires. This is the reason why, in the case of suicides and those who die premature deaths, having at the time of death a strong passion or a strong desire that they were unable to satisfy during life, but on the fulfilment of which their whole energy was concentrated, the astral body subsists for a certain length of time, and may even make desperate efforts for the purpose of descending into the physical plane to bring about the accomplishment of its object. Most of the spiritualistic phenomena are to be accounted for upon this principle, and also upon the principle that many of the phenomena exhibited at seances are really produced by elementals (which naturally subsist on the astral plane) masquerading as it were in the garb of elementaries or pisachas. I need not, however, enter further into this branch of the subject, as it has but a very remote bearing upon the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita with which I am concerned. Suffice it to say; that what has been stated is all that ordinaraly takes place at the death of a man, but there are certain kinds of karma which may present exceptions, to the general law. Suppose, for instance, a man has devoted all his life to the evocation of elementals. In such a case either the elementals take possession of the man and make a medium of him, or, if they do not do that completely, they take possession of his astral body and absorb it at the time of death. In the latter case the astral body, associated as it is with an independent elemental being, will subsist for a considerable length of time. But though elemental worship may lead to mediumship—to irresponsible mediumship in the majority of cases— and may confuse a man’s intellect, and make him morally worse than he was before, these elementals will not be able to destroy the karana sarira. Still it is by no means a desirable thing, that we should place ourselves under the control of elementals.
    There is another kind of worship, however, which a man may follow, and which may lead to far more serious results. What may happen to the astral body, may also happen to the karana sarira. The karana sarira bears the same relation to the Devas in Swargam that the astral body does to the elmentals on the astral plane. In this Devaloka there are beings, or entities, some vicious and some good, and, if a man who wishes to evoke these powers were to fix his attention upon them, he might in course of time attract these powers to himself, and it is quite possible that when the force generated by the concentration of his attention upon these beings attains a certain amount of strength, the karana sarira may be absorbed into one of these Devas, just as the astral body may be absorbed into an elemental. This is a far more serious result than any that can happen to man in the case of elemental worship, for the simple reason that he has no more prospect of reaching the Logos.
    The whole of his individuality is absorbed into one of these beings, and it will subsist as long as that being exists, and no longer. When cosmic pralaya comes it will be dissolved, as all these beings will be dissolved. For him there is no immortality. He may indeed have life for millions of years, but what are millions of years to immortality? You will recollect that it is said in Mr. Sinnett’s book, that there is such a thing as immortality in evil. The statement, as it stands, is no doubt an exaggeration. What Mr. Sinnett. meant to say was, that, when those who follow the left-hand path evoke certain powers which are wicked in their nature, they may transfer their own individualities to those powers, and subsist in them until the time of cosmic pralaya. These would then become formidable powers in the cosmos, and would interfere to a considerable extent in the affairs of mankind, and even prove far more troublesome, so far as humanity is concerned, than the genuine powers themselves on account of the association of a human individuality with one of these powers. It was for this reason that all great religions have inculcated the great truth, that man should not, for the sake of gain or profit, or for the acquisition of any object however tempting for the time being, worship any such powers, but should wholly devote his attention and worship to the one true Logos accepted by every true and great religion in the world as that alone can lead a man safely along the true moral path, and enable him to rise higher and higher, until he lives in it as an immortal being, as the manifested Eswara of the cosmos, and as the source,  if necessary, of spiritual enlightenment to generations to come.
     It is towards this end, which may be hastened in certain cases, that all evolution is tending. The one great power, that is as it were guiding that whole course of evolution, leading nature on towards its goal, so to speak, is the light of the Logos. The Logos is as it were the pattern, and emanating from it is this light of life. It goes forth into the world with this pattern imprinted upon it, and, after going through the whole cycle of evolution, it tries to return to the Logos whence it had its rise. Evolutionary progress is effected by the continual perfecting of the Upadhi, or organism through which this light works. In itself it has no need of improvement. What is perfected, is neither the Logos, nor the light of the Logos, but the Upadhi or physical frame through which this light is acting. I have already said that it is upon the purity and nature of this Upadhi, that the manifested clearness and refulgence of the Logos mainly depends. As time goes on, man’s intelligence on the spiritual, astral and physical planes will become more and more perfect, as the Upadhis are perfected, until a certain point is reached when he will be enabled to make the final attempt to perceive and recognise his Logos, unless he chooses to wilfully shut his eyes, and prefers perdition to immortality. It is towards this end that nature is working.
    I have pointed out the fact that there are certain cases which may cause a disturbance in the general progress, and I have mentioned the causes that may facilitate that progress. All the initiations that man ever invented were invented for the purpose of giving men a clear idea of the Logos, to point out the goal, and to lay down rules by which it is possible to facilitate the approach to the end towards which nature is constantly working.
    These are the premises from which Krishna starts. Whether by express statements, or by necessary implications, all these propositions are present in this book, and, taking his stand on these fundamental propositions, Krishna proceeds to construct his practical theory of life.
    In stating this theory I have not made any reference to particular passages in the Bhagavad Gita. By constantly turning to the detached passages in which these propositions are expressed or implied, I should have only created confusion, it therefore seemed better to begin by stating the theory in my own language, in order to give you a connected idea of it as a whole. I do not think it will be allowed by every follower of every religion in India, that these are the propositions from which Krishna started. The theory has been misunderstood by a considerable number of philosophers, and, in course of time, the speculations of the Sankhyas have introduced a source of error, which. has exercised a most important influence on the development of Hindu philosophy. There is not however the slightest doubt in my own mind, that what I have said includes the basis of the real Vedantic philosophy. Having but little time at my command I have thought it unnecessary to cite authorities: had I done so it would have taken me not three days, but three years, to explain, the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita. I shall leave it to you to examine these propositions and to carefully ascertain how far they seem to underlie, not merely Hinduism, but Buddhism, the ancient philosophies of the Egyptians and the Chaldeans, the speculations of the Rosicrucians, and almost every other system having the remotest connection with occultism from times long antecedent to the so-called historic periods.
    I will now turn to the book itself:
    Krishna is generally supposed to be an Avatar. This theory of Avatars plays a very important part in Hindu philosophy; and, unless it is properly understood, it is likely that great misconceptions will arise from the acceptance of the current views regarding this Avatar. It is generally supposed that Krishna is the Avatar of the one great personal God who exists in the cosmos. Of course those who hold this view make no attempt to explain how this one great personal God succeeded in setting up an intimate connection with the physical body of Krishna, constituted as the physical body of every man is, or even with a personality, or human individuality, that seems to be precisely similar to that of any other human being. And how are we to explain the theory of Avatars, as generally stated, with reference to the view of this particular Avatar to which I have referred? This view is without any support. The Logos in itself is not the one personal God of the cosmos. The great Parabrahmam behind it is indeed one and niramsa, undifferentiated and eternally existing, but that, Parabrahmam can never manifest itself as any of these Avatars. It does, of course, manifest itself in a peculiar way as the whole cosmos, or rather as the supposed basis, or the one essence, on which the whole cosmos seems to be superimposed, the one foundation for every existence. But it can manifest itself in a manner approaching the conception of a personal God, only when it manifests itself as the Logos. If Avatars are possible at all, they can only be so with reference to the Logos, or Eswara, and not by any means with reference to what I have called Parabrahmam. But still there remains the question, what is an Avatar? According to the general theory I have laid down, in the case of every man who becomes a Mukta there is a union with the Logos. It may be conceived, either as the soul being raised to the Logos, or as the Logos descending from its high plane to associate itself with the soul. In the generality of cases, this association of the soul with the Logos is only completed after death—the last death which that individual has to go through.
    But in some special cases the Logos does descend to the plane of the soul and associate itself with the soul during the life-time of the individual; but these cases are very rare. In the ease of such beings, while they still exist as ordinary men on the physical plane, instead of having for their soul merely the reflection of the Logos, they have the Logos itself. Such beings have appeared. Buddhists say, that in the case of Buddha there was this permanent union, when he attained what they call Para-nirvana nearly twenty years before the death of his physical body. Christians say, that the Logos was made flesh, as it were, and was born as Christ—as Jesus—though the Christians do not go into a clear analysis of the propositions they lay down. There are, however, certain sections of Christians, who take a more philosophical view of the question, and say that the divine Logos associated itself with the man named Jesus at some time during his career, and that it was only after that union he began to perform his miracles and show his power as a great reformer and saviour of mankind.
    Whether this union took place as a special case in the case of Jesus, or whether it was such a union as would take place in the case of every Mahatma or Maharishi when he becomes a Jivanmukta, we cannot say, unless we know a great deal more about him than what the Bible can teach us in the case of Krishna the same question arises. Mahavishnu is a god, and is a representative of the Logos he is considered as the Logos by the majority of Hindus. From this it must not however be inferred that there is but one Logos in the cosmos, or even that but one form of Logos is possible in the cosmos. For the present I am only concerned with this form of the Logos, and it seems to be the foundation of the teachings we are considering.
    There are two views which you can take with reference to such human Avatars, as, for instance, Rama, Krishna, and Parasurama. Some Vaishnavites deny that Buddha was an Avatar of Vishnu. But that was an exceptional case, and is very little understood by either Vaishnavites or Buddhists. Parasurama’s Avatar will certainly be disputed by some writers. I believe that, looking at the terrible things he did, the Madwas thought that, in the case of Parasurama, there was no real Avatar, but a mere over-shadowing of the man by Mahavishnu. But, setting aside disputed cases, we have two undisputed human Avatars—Rama and Krishna.
    Take for instance the case of Krishna. In this case two views are possible. We may suppose that Krishna, as an individual, was a man who had been evoluting for millions of years, and had attained great spiritual perfection, and that in the course of his spiritual progress the Logos descended to him and associated itself with his soul. In that case it is not the Logos that manifested itself as Krishna, but Krishna who raised himself to the position of the Logos. In the case of a Mahatma who becomes a Jivanmukta it is his soul, as it were, that is transformed into the Logos. In the case of a Logos descending into a man, it does so, not chiefly by reason of that man’s spiritual perfection, but for some ulterior purpose of its own for the benefit of humanity. In this case it is the Logos that descends to the plane of the soul and manifests its energy in and though the soul, and not the soul that ascends to the plane of the Logos.
    Theoretically it is possible for us to entertain either of these two views. But there is one difficulty. If we are at liberty to call that man an Avatar who becomes a Jivanmukta, we shall be obliged to call Suka, Vasishta, Thurvasa and perhaps the whole number of the Maharishis who have become Jivanmuktas Avatars; but they are not generally called Avatars. No doubt some great Rishis are enumerated in the list of Avatars, given for instance in Bhagavad, but somehow no clear explanation is given for the fact that the ten Avatars ordinarily enumerated are looked upon as the Avatars of Mahavishnu, and the others as his manifestations, or beings in whom his light and knowledge were placed for the time being; or, for some reason or other, these others are not supposed to be Avatars  are in the strict sense of the word. But, if these are not Avatars, then we shall have to suppose that Krishna and Rama are called Avatars, not because we have in them an instance of a soul that had become a Jivanmukta and so become associated with the Logos, but because the Logos descended to the plane of the soul, and, associating itself with the soul, worked in and through it on the plane of humanity for some great thing that had to be done in the world. I believe this latter view will be found to be correct on examination. Our respect for Krishna need not in any way be lessened on that account. The real Krishna is not the man in and through whom the Logos appeared, but the Logos itself. Perhaps our respect will only be enhanced, when we see that this is the case of the Logos descending into a human being for the good of humanity. It is not encumbered with any particular individuality in such a case, and has perhaps greater power to exert itself for the purpose of doing good to humanity—not merely for the purpose of doing good to one man, but for the purpose of saving millions.
    There are two dark passages in Mahabharata, which will be found very hard nuts for the advocates of the orthodox theory to crack. To begin with Rama. Suppose Rama was not the individual monad plus the Logos, but in some unaccountable manner the Logos made flesh. Then, when the physical body disappeared there should be nothing remaining but the Logos—there should be no personality to follow its own course. That seems to be the inevitable result, if we are to accept the orthodox theory. But there is a statement made by Narada in the Lokapala Sabha Varnana, in Mahabharata, in which he says, speaking of the court of Yama, who is one of the Devas, that Dasaratha Rama was one of the individuals present there. Now, if the individual Rama was merely a Maya—not in the sense in which every human being is a Maya, but in a special sense—,there is not the slightest reason why he should subsist after the purpose for which this Maya garb was wanted was accomplished. It is stated in Ramayana, that the Logos went to its place of abode when Rama died yet we find in Mahabharata Dasaratha Rama mentioned together with a number of other kings, as an individual present in Yamaloka, which, at the highest, takes us only up to Devachan. This assertion becomes perfectly consistent with the theory I have laid down, if that is properly understood. Rama was an individual, constituted like every other man. Probably he had had several incarnations before, and was destined, even after his one great incarnation, to have several subsequent births, When he appeared as Rama Avatar, it was not the latent individual manifesting itself, it was not Rama’s soul transformed into the Logos, or rather Rama himself as Jivanmukta, that did all the great deeds narrated in the Ramayana—allegorical as it is,—but it was the Logos, or Mahavishnu, that descended to the plane of the soul and associated itself for the time being with a particular soul for the purpose of acting through it. Again, in the case of Krishna there is a similar difficulty to be encountered. Turn for instance to the end of the Mousala Parva in the Mahabharata, where you will find a curious passage. Speaking of Krishna’s death, the author says that the soul went to heaven—which corresponds to Devachan—
,where it was received with due honours by all the Devas. Then it is said, that Narayana departed from that place to his own place, Narayana being the symbol of the Logos. Immediately after there follows a stanza describing the existence of Krishna in Swargam, and further on we find that when Dharmaraja’s soul went into Swargam, he found Krishna there. How are these two statements to be reconciled? Unless we suppose that Narayana, whose energy and wisdom were manifested through the man Krishna, was a separate spiritual power manifesting itself for the time being through this individual, there is no solution of the difficulty. Now from these two statements we shall not be far wrong in inferring that the Avatars we are speaking of, were the manifestations of one and the same power, the Logos, which the great Hindu writers of old called Mahavishnu. Who then is this Mahavishnu? Why should this Logos in particular, if there are several other Logoi in the universe, take upon itself the care of humanity, and manifest itself in the form of various Avatars; and, further, is it possible for every other adept, after he becomes associated with the Logos, to descend as an Avatar in the same manner for the good of humanity?
    A clear discussion of these questions will lead us into considerations that go far down into the mysteries of ocult science, and to explain which clearly I should have to take into account a number of theories that can only be communicated at the time of initiation. Possibly some light will be thrown upon the subject in the forthcoming “Secret Doctrine ;“ but it would be premature for me to discuss the question at this stage. It will be sufficient for me to say, that this Mahavishnu seems to be the Dhyan Chohan that first appeared on this planet when human evolution commenced during this Kalpa, who set the evolutionary progress in motion, and whose duty it is to watch over the interests of mankind until the seven Manwantaras, through which, we are passing, are over.
    It may be that this Logos itself was associated with a Jivanmukta, or a great Mahatma of a former Kalpa. However that may be, it is a Logos, and as such only it is of importance to us at present. Perhaps in former Kalpas, of which there have been millions, that Logos might have associated itself with a series of Mahatmas, and all their individualities might have been subsisting in it nevertheless it has a distinct individuality of his own. It is Eswara, and it is only as a Logos in the abstract that we have to consider it from present purpose. This explanation, however, I have thought it necessary to give, for the purpose of enabling you to understand certain statements made by Krishna, which will not become intelligible unless read in connection with what I have said.

 

THE THEOSOPHIST p. 430 [ APRIL 1887 ]

NOTES ON THE BHAGAVAD GITA.

III.

IN this lecture I shall consider the premises I have laid down with special reference to the various passages in which they seem to be indicated in this book.
    It will be remembered that I started with the very first cause, which I called Parabrahmam. Any positive definition of this principle is of course impossible, and a negative definition is all that can be attempted from the very nature of the case. It is generally believed, at any rate by a certain class of philosophers, that Krishna himself is Parabrahmam—that he is the personal God who is Parabrahmam—, but the words used by Krishna in speaking of Parabrahmam, and the way in which he deals with the subject, clearly show that he draws a distinction between himself and Parabrahmam.
    No doubt he is a manifestation of Parabrahmam, as every Logos is. He calls himself Pratyagatma, and Pratyagatma is Parabrahmam in the sense in which that proposition is laid down by the Adwaitis. This statement is at the bottom of all Adwaiti philosophy, but is very often misunderstood. When Adwaitis say “Aham eva Parabrahmam,” they do not mean to say that this ahankaram (egotism) is Parabrahmam, but that the only true self in the cosmos, which is the Logos or Pratyagama, is a manifestation of Parabrahmam.
    It will be noticed that when Krishna is speaking of himself he never uses the word Parabrahmam, but always Pratyagatma, and it is from this standpoint that we constantly find him speaking. Whenever he speaks of Pratyagatma he speaks of himself, and whenever he speaks of Parabrahmam, he speaks of it as being something different from himself.
    I will now go through all the passages in which reference is made to Parabrahmam in this book. The first passage to which I shall call your attention is chapter viii, verse 3 :—
“The eternal (spirit) is the Supreme Brahma, Its condition as Pratyagatmas is called Adhyatma. Action which leads to incarnated existence is
denoted by Karma.”
    Here the only words used to denote Parabrahmam are Aksharam and Brahma. These are the words he generally uses. You will notice that he does not in any place call it Eswara or Maheswara; he does not even allude to it often as Atma. Even the term Paramatma he applies to himself, and not to Parabrahmam. I believe that the reason for this is that the word Atma, strictly speaking, means the same thing as self, that idea of self being in no way connected with Parabrahmam. This idea of self first comes into existence with the Logos, and not before; hence Parabrahmam ought not to be called Paramatma or any kind of Atma. In one place only Krishna, speaking of Parabrahmam, says that it is his Atma. Except in that case he nowhere uses the word Atma or Paramatma in speaking of Parabrahmam. Strictly speaking Parabrahmam is the very foundation of the higher self. Paramatma is however a term also applied to Parabrahmam as distinguished from Pratyagatma. When thus applied it is used in a strictly technical sense. Whenever the term Pratyagatma is used, you will find Paramatma used as expressing something distinct from it.
    It must not be supposed that either the ego, or any idea of self, can be associated with, or be considered as inherent in Parabramam. Perhaps it may be said that the idea of self is latent in Parabrahmam, as everything is latent in it; and, if on that account you connect the idea of self with Parabrahmam, you will be quite justified in applying the term Paramatma to Parabrahmam. But to avoid confusion it is much better to use our words in a clear sense, and to give to each a distinct connotation about which there can be no dispute. Turn now to chapter viii, verse 11
“I will briefly explain to thee that place (padam), which those who know the Vedas describe as indestructible (aksharam), which the ascetics, who are free from desire, enter, and which is the desired destination of those who observe Brahmacharyam.”

    Here we find another word used by Krishna when speaking of Parabrahmam. He calls it his padam—the abode of bliss, or Nirvana. When he calls Parabrahmam his padam or abode, he does not mean vaikuntha loka or any other kind of loka; he speaks of it as his abode, because it is in the bosom of Parabrahmam that the Logos resides. He refers to Parabrahmam as the abode of bliss, wherein resides eternally the Logos, manifested or unmanifested. Again turn to chapter viii, verse 21 : —
    “That which is stated to be unmanifested and immutable is spoken of as the highest condition to be reached. That place from which there is no
return for those who reach it is my supreme abode.”
    Here the same kind of language is used, and the reference is to Parabrahmam. When any soul is absorbed into the Logos, or reaches the Logos) it may be said to have reached Parabrahmam) which is the centre of the Logos; and as the Logos resides in the bosom of Parabrahmam, when the soul reaches the Logos it reaches Parabrahmam also.
    Here you will notice that he again speaks of Parabrahmam as his abode.
Turn now to chapter ix, verses 4, 5 and 6 : —
    “The whole of this Universe is pervaded by me in my Unmanifested form (Avyaktamoorti). I am thus the support of all the manifested existences, but I am not supported by them.” Look at my condition when manifested as Eswara (Logos): these phenomenal manifestations are not within me. My Atma (however) is the foundation and the origin of manifested beings, though it does not exist in combination with them. Conceive that all the manifested beings are within me, just as the atmosphere spreading everywhere is always in space.”
    In my last lecture I tried to explain the mysterious connection between Parabrahmam and Mulaprakriti. Parabrahmam is never differentiated. What is differentiated is Mulaprakriti, which is sometimes called Avyaktam, and in other places Kutastham, which means simply the undifferentiated Element. Nevertheless Parabrahmam seems to be the one foundation for all physical phenomena, or for all phenomena that are generally referred to Mulaprakriti. After all, any material object is nothing more than a bundle of attributes to us. Either on account of an innate propensity within us or as a matter of inference, we always suppose that there is a non-ego, which has this bundle of attributes superimposed upon it, and which is the basis of all these attributes. Were it not for this essence, there could be no physical body. But these attributes do not spring from Parabrahmam itself, but from Mulaprakriti, which is its veil, just as according to the kabbalists Shekinah is the veil of Ensoph and the garb of Jehovah. Mulaprakriti is the veil of Parabrahmam. It is not Parabrahmam itself, but merely its appearance. It is purely phenomenal. It is no doubt far more persistent than any other kind of objective existence. Being the first mode or manifestation of the only absolute and unconditioned reality, it seems to be the basis of all subsequent manifestations. Speaking of this aspect of Parabrahmam, Krishna says that the whole cosmos is pervaded by it, which is his Avyakta form.
    Thus he speaks of Parabrahmam as his Avyaktamoorti, because Parabrahmam is unknowable, and only becomes knowable when manifesting itself as the Logos or Eswara. Here he is trying to indicate that Parabrahmam is the Avyaktamoorti of the Logos, as it is the Atma of the Logos, which is everywhere present, since it is the Atma of the universe, and which appears differentiated,—when manifested in the shape of the various Logoi working in the cosmos, though in itself it is undifferentiated—and which, though the basis of all phenomenal manifestations, does not partake of the vikarams of those phenomenal manifestations.
    Refer now to chapter xiii verses 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17.
Here again, in speaking of Parabrahmam in verses 15, 16 and 17,

 This and some of the other quotations have been omitted on account of their 1ength.—Ed.

    Krishna is laying down a proposition which I have already explained at length. I need not now go minutely into the meaning of these verses, for you can very easily ascertain them from the commentaries.
    Turn to chapter xiv, verse 27 :—
“I am the image or the seat of the immortal and indestructible Brahmam, of eternal law and of undisturbed happiness.”
    Here Krishna is referring to himself as a manifestation or image of Parabrahmam. He says he is the Pratisha of Prabrahmam; he does not call himself Parabrahmam, but only its image or manifestation.
    The only other passage in which Krishna refers to the same subject is chapter xv, verse 6 :—
“That is my supreme abode (dhama), which neither sun, nor moon, nor fire illumines. Those who enter it do not return.”
    There again he speaks of padam and refers to Parabrahmam as his abode. I believe that these are all the statements that refer to Prabrahmam in this book, and they are sufficient to indicate its position pretty clearly, and to show the nature of its connection with the Logos. I shall now proceed to point out the passages in which reference is made to the Logos itself.
    Strictly speaking the whole of this book may be called the book of the philosophy of the Logos. There is hardly a page which does not directly or indirectly refer to it. There are however a few important and significant passages, to which it is desirable that I should refer you, so that you may see whether what I have said about the nature and functions of the Logos, and its connection with humanity and the human soul, is supported by the teachings of this book. Let us turn to chapter iv, and examine the meaning of verses 5 to 11 :—

    “O Arjuna, I and thou have passed through many births. I know all of them, but thou dost not know, O harasser of foes.
“Even I, who am unborn, imperishable, the Lord of all beings, controlling my own nature, take birth through the instrumentality of my maya,
“O Bharata, whenever there is a decline of dharma or righteousness and spread of adharma or unrighteousness, I create myself.
“I take birth in every yuga, to protect the good, to destroy evil-doers, and to re-establish dharma.
“O Arjuna, he who understands truly my divine birth and action, abandoning his body, reaches me, and does not come to birth again.
“Many, who are free from passion, fear and anger, devoted to me and full of me, purified by spiritual wisdom, have attained my condition.”

    This passage refers, of course, not only to the Logos in the abstract, but also to Krishna’s own incarnations. It will be noticed that he speaks here as if his Logos had already associated itself with several personalities, or human individualities, in former yugas; and he says that he remembers all that took place in connection with those incarnations. Of course, since there could be no karmabandham as far as he was concerned, his Logos, when it associated itself with a human soul, would not lose its own independence of action, as a soul confined by the bonds of matter. And because his intellect and wisdom were in no way clouded by this association with a human soul, he says he can recollect all his previous incarnations, while Arjuna, not yet having fully received the light of the Logos, is not in a position to understand all that took place in connection with his former births. He says that it is his object to look after the welfare of humanity, and that whenever a special incarnation is necessary, he unites himself with the soul of a particular individual; and that he appears in various forms for the purpose of establishing dharma, and of rectifying matters on the plane of human life, if adharma gets the ascendancy. From the words he uses there is reason to suppose that the number of his own incarnations has been very great, more so than our books are willing to admit. He apparently refers to human incarnations; if the janmas or incarnations referred to are simply the recognised human incarnations of Vishnu, there would perhaps be only two incarnations before Krishna, Rama and Parasurama, for the Matsya, Koorma, Varaha and Narasinha Avatars were not, strictly speaking, human incarnations. Even Vamana was not born of human father or mother.
    The mysteries of these incarnations lie deep in the inner sanctuaries of the ancient arcane science, and can only be understood by unveiling certain hidden truths. The human incarnations can however be understood by the remarks I have already made. It may be that this Logos, which has taken upon itself the care of humanity, has incarnated not merely in connection with the two individuals whose history we see narrated in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, but also perhaps in connection with various individuals who have appeared in different parts of the world and at different times as great reformers and saviours of mankind.
    Again, these janmams might not only include all the special incarnations which this Logos has undergone, but might also perhaps include all the incarnations of that individual, who in the course of his spiritual progress finally joined himself, or united his soul with the Logos, which has been figuring as the guardian angel, so to speak, of the best and the highest interests of humanity on this planet.
    In this connection there is a great truth that I ought to bring to your notice. Whenever any particular individual reaches the highest state of spiritual culture, developes in himself all the virtues that alone entitle him to an union with the Logos, and finally, unites his soul with the Logos, there is, as it were, a sort of reaction emanating from that Logos for the good of humanity. If I am permitted to use a simile, I may compare it to what may happen in the case of the sun when a comet falls upon it. If a comet falls upon the sun, there is necessarily an accession of heat and light. So, in the ease of a human being who has developed an unselfish love for humanity in himself. He unites his highest qualities with the Logos, and, when the time of the final union comes, generates in it an impulse to incarnate for the good of humanity. Even when it does not actually incarnate, it sends down its influence for the good of mankind. This influence may be conceived as invisible spiritual grace that descends from heaven, and it is showered down upon humanity, as it were, whenever any great Mahatma unites his soul with the Logos. Every Mahatma who joins his soul with the Logos is thus a source of immense power for the good of humanity in after generations. It is said that the Mahatmas, living as they are apart from the world, are utterly useless so far as humanity is concerned when they are still living, and are still more so when they have reached Nirvana. This is an absurd proposition that has been put forward by certain writers who did not comprehend the true nature of Nirvana. The truth is as I have said; every purified soul joined with the Logos is capable of stimulating the energy of the Logos in a particular direction. I do not mean to say that in the case of every Mahatma there is necessarily any tendency to incarnate for the purpose of teaching dharma to mankind—in special cases this may happen—, but in all cases there is an influence of the highest spiritual efficacy coming down from the Logos for the good of humanity, whether as an invisible essence, or in the shape of another human incarnation, as in the case of Krishna, or rather the Logos with reference to which we have been speaking of Krishna. It might be, that this Logos, that seems to have incarnated already on this planet among various nations for the good of humanity, was that into which the soul of a great Mahatma of a former kalpa. was finally absorbed : that the impulse which was thus communicated to it has been acting, as it were, to make it incarnate and re-incarnate during the present kalpa for the good of mankind.
    In this connection I must frankly tell you, that beyond the mystery I have indicated there is yet another mystery in connection with Krishna and all the incarnations mentioned in this book, and that mystery goes to the very root of all occult science. Rather than attempt to give an imperfect explanation, I think it much better to lose sight of this part of the subject, and proceed to explain the teachings of this book, as if Krishna is not speaking from the stand-point of any particular Logos, but from that of the Logos in the abstract. So far as the general tenour of this book is concerned, it would suit any other Logos as well as that of Krishna, but there are a few scattered passages, that when explained will be found to possess a special significance with reference to this mystery which they do not possess now. An attempt will be made in the “Secret Doctrine” to indicate the nature of this mystery as far as possible, but it must not be imagined that the veil will be completely drawn, and that the whole mystery will be revealed. Only hints will be given by the help of which you will have to examine and understand the subject. This matter is however foreign to my subject; yet I have thought it better to bring the fact to your notice lest you should be misled. The whole philosophy of this book is the philosophy of the Logos. In general Christ or Buddha might have used the same words as those of Krishna; and what I have said about this mystery only refers to some particular passages that seem to touch upon the nature of Krishna’s divine individuality. He himself seems to think there is a mystery, as you may see from the 9th verse.
    In the tenth verse “Mathbhavam” means the condition of the Logos. Krishna says there have been several Mahatmas who have become Eswaras, or have united their souls completely with the Logos, Turn now to chapter v, verses 14 and 15 :—
    “The Lord of the world does not bring about or create karma, or the condition by which people attribute karma to themselves ; nor does he make people feel the effects of their karma. It is the law of natural causation that works. He does not take upon himself the sin or the merit of any one. Real knowledge is smothered by delusion, and hence created beings are misled.”
    Here he says that Eswara does not create karma, nor does he create in individuals any desire to do karma. All karma, or impulse to do karma, emanates from Mulaprakriti and its vikarams, and not from the Logos, or the light that emanates from the Logos. You must look upon this light, or Fohat, as a kind of energy eternally beneficent in its nature, as stated in the” Idyll of the White Lotus.” In itself it is not capable of generating any tendencies that lead to bandham; but ahankaram, and the desire to do karma, and all karma with its various consequences come into existence by reason of the upadhis which are but the manifestations of that one Mulaprakriti.
    Strictly and logically speaking, you will have to attribute these results to both of these forces. Mulaprakriti will not act, and is incapable of producing any result, unless energised by the light of the Logos. Nevertheless, most of the results that pertain to karma and the continued existence of man as the responsible producer of karma are traceable to Mulaprakriti, and not to the light that vitalises it. We may therefore suppose that this Mulaprakriti is the real or principal bandhakaranam, and this light is the one instrument by which we may attain to union with the Logos, which is the source of salvation. This light is the foundation of the better side of human nature, and of all those tendencies of action, which generally lead to liberation from the bonds of avidya.
    Turn to chapter vii, verses 4 and 5 :—
“My Prakriti (Mulaprakriti) is divided into eight parts—earth, water, fire, wind, ether, mind, intuition and egotism. This Prakriti is called Aparaprakriti.
”Understand my Paraprakriti (Daiviprakriti,) as something distinct from this. This Daiviprakriti is the one life by which the whole Universe is
supported.”
    Krishna in verse 5 distinguishes between this Daiviprakriti and Prakriti. This Daiviprakriti is, strictly speaking, the Mahachaitanyam of the whole cosmos, the one energy, or the only force from which spring all force manifestations. He says you must look upon it as something different from the Prakriti of the Sankhyas.
    Turn now to chapter vii, verse 7 :—
“O Dhanamjaya, there is nothing superior to me, and all this hangs on me as a row of gems on the string running through them.”
    Please notice that in verses 4 and 5 Krishna is referring to two kinds of Prakriti. Of course that Prakriti, which is differentiated into the eight elements enumerated in Sankhya philosophy, is the avyaktam of the Sankhyas—it is the Mulaprakriti, which must not be confounded with the Daiviprakriti, which is the light of the Logos. Conceive Mulaprakriti as avidya, and Daiviprakriti, the light of the Logos, as vidya. These words have other meanings also. In the Swetaswatara Upanishad Eswara is described as the deity who controls both vidya and avidya.

    Here Krishna seems to refer to all the qualities, or all the excellent qualities, manifested in every region of phenomenal existence, as springing from himself.
    No doubt the other qualities also or rather their ideal forms originally spring from him, but they ought to be traced mainly to Mulaprakriti, and not to himself.
    I will now refer you to verse 24 and the following verses of the same chapter :—
    “The ignorant, who do not know my supreme and indestructible and best nature, regard me as a manifestation of avyaktam.
    “Veiled by my yoga maya, I am not visible to all. The deluded world does not comprehend me, who am unborn and imperishable.
    “I know, O Arjuna, all beings, past, present, and future, but no one knows me.”
    In these verses Krishna is controverting a doctrine that has unfortunately created a good deal of confusion I have already told you that the Sankhyas have taken their avyaktam, or rather Parabrahmam veiled by Mulaprakriti, as Atma or the real self. Their opinion was that this avyaktam took on a kind of phenomenal differentiation on account of association with upadhi, and when this phenomenal differentiation took place, the avyaktam became the Atma of the individual. They have thus altogether lost sight of the Logos. Startling consequences followed from this doctrine. They thought that there being but one avyaktam, one soul, or one spirit, that existed in every upadhi, appearing differentiated, though not differentiated in reality, if somehow we could control the action of upadhi, and destroy the maya it had created, the result would be the complete extinction of man’s self and a final layam in this avyaktam or Parabrahmam. It is this doctrine that has spoilt the Adwaiti philosophy of this country, that has brought the Buddhism of Ceylon, Burmah and China to its present deplorable condition, and led so many Vedantic writers to say that Nirvana was in reality a condition of perfect layam or annihilation.
    If those who say that Nirvana is annihilation are right, then, so far as the individuality of the soul is concerned, it is completely annihilated, and what exists ultimately is not the soul, or the individual however purified or exalted, but the one Parabrahmam, which has all along been existing, and that Parabrahmam itself is a sort of unknowable essence which has no idea of self, nor even an individual existence, but which is the one power, the one mysterious basis of the whole cosmos. In interpreting the Pranava, the Sankhyas made the ardhamatra really mean this avyktam and nothing more. In some Upanishads this ardhamatra is described as that which, appearing differentiated, is the soul of man. When this differentiation, which is mainly due to the upadhi, is destroyed, there is a layam of Atma in Parabrahmam. This is also the view of a considerable number of persons in India, who call themselves Adwaitis. It is also the view put forward as the correct Vedantic view. It was certainly the view of the ancient Sankhya philosophers, and is the view of all those Buddhists who consider Nirvana to be the layam of the soul in Parabrahmam.

    After reaching karana sarira there are two paths, both of which lead to Parabrahmam. Karana sarira, you must know, is an upadhi; it is material, that is to say, it is derived from Mulaprakriti, but there is also acting in it, as its light and energy, the light from the Logos, or Daiviprakriti, or Fohat. Now, as I have said, there are two paths. When you reach Karana sarira, you can either confine your attention to the upadhi and, tracing its genealogy up to Mulaprakriti, arrive at Parabrahmam at the next step, or you may lose sight of the upadhi, altogether, and fix your attention solely upon the energy, or light, or life, that is working within it. You may then try to trace its origin, travelling along the ray till you reach its source, which is the Logos, and from the standpoint of the Logos try to reach Parabrahmam.
    Of these two paths a considerable number of modern Vedantists, and all Sankhyas and all Buddhists—except those who are acquainted with the occult doctrine—have chosen the one that leads to Mulaprakriti, hoping thus to reach Parabrahmam ultimately. But in the view taken by these philosophers the Logos and its light were completely lost sight of Atma, in their opinion, is the differentiated appearance of this avyaktam and nothing more.
    Now what is the result? The differentiated appearance ceases when the upadhi ceases to exist, and the thing that existed before exists afterwards, and that thing is avyaktam, and beyond it there is Parabrahmam. The individuality of man is completely annihilated. Further, in such a case it would be simply absurd to speak of Avatars, for they would then be impossible and out of the question. How is it possible for Mahatmas, or adepts, to help mankind in any possible way when once they have reached this stage? The Cingalese Buddhists have pushed this doctrine to its logical conclusion. According to them Buddha is extinguished, and every man who follows his doctrine will eventually lose the individuality of his Atma; therefore they say that the Tibetans are entirely mistaken in thinking that Buddha has been overshadowing, or can overshadow any mortals; since the time he reached Paranirvana the soul of the man who was called Buddha has lost its individuality. Now I say that Krishna protests against the doctrine which leads to such consequences.
    He says (verse 24) that such a view is wrong, and that those who hold it do not understand his real position as the Logos or Verbum. Moreover he tells us the reason why he is thus lost sight of. He says it is so because he is always veiled by his yoga maya. This yoga maya is his light. It is supposed that this light alone is visible, the centre from which it radiates remaining always invisible.
    As may naturally be expected this light is always seen mixed up, or in conjunction, with the Emanations of Mulaprakriti. Hence Sankhyas have considered it to be an aspect of, or an Emanation from Mulaprakriti. Avyaktam was in their opinion the source, not only of matter, but of force also.
    But according to Krishna this light is not to be traced to avyaktam, but to a different source altogether, which source is himself. But, as this source is altogether arupa and mysterious, and cannot be easily detected, it was supposed by these philosophers that there was nothing more in and behind this light, except their avykatam its basis. But this light is the veil of the Logos in the sense that the Shekinah of the Kabbahists is supposed to be the veil of Adonai. Verily it is the Holy Ghost that seems to form the flesh and blood of the divine Christ. If the Logos were to manifest itself, even to the highest spiritual perception of a human being, it would only be able to do so clothed in this light which forms its body. See what Sankaracharya says in his Soundaryalahari. Addressing the light he says ;—“ You are the body of Sambhu.” This light is, as it were, a cloak, or a mask, with which the Logos is enabled to make its appearance.
    The real centre of the light is not visible even to the highest spiritual perception of man. It is this truth which is briefly expressed in that priceless little book “Light on the Path,”. when it says (rule 12) ;—“ It is beyond you; because when you reach it you have lost yourself. It is unattainable because it for ever recedes. You will enter the light, but you will never touch the flame.”
    You will bear in mind the distinction that Krishna draws between the unfortunate doctrine of the Sankhyas and others, and the true theory which he is endeavouring to inculcate, because it leads to important consequences. Even now I may say that ninety per cent of the Vedantic writers hold the view which Krishna is trying to combat.
Turn now to chapter viii, and examine the meaning of verses 5 to 16.
     In these passages Krishna lays down two propositions which are of immense importance to humanity. First, he says that the soul can reach and become finally assimilated with himself. Next, he says, that when once he is reached there is no more Punarjanmam, or rebirth, for the man who has succeeded in reaching- him.
    Against the latter proposition some objections have sometimes been raised. It is said that if the soul reaches the Logos and the spiritual individuality of the Logos is preserved, and yet if the Logos has also to overshadow mortals from time to time, or have any connection with a human being living on earth, then the statement that a man who reaches the Logos will have no Puna janmam is untrue. But this objection arises from a misunderstanding as to the nature of this union with the Logos. As far as we know, judging from our ordinary experience, this individuality, this sense of Ego, which we have at present is a kind of fleeting entity changing from time to time. Day after day the different experiences of man are being stored up, and in a mysterious manner united into a single individuality. Of course it seems to every man that he
has a definite individuality during the course of a particular incarnation, but the individuality of his Karana Sarira is made up of several individualities like these. It must not be imagined that all the experiences that are connected with the various incarnations and go to constitute their respective personalities are to be found in a kind of mechanical juxtaposition in the karana sarira. It is not so. Nature has a sort of machinery by which it is able to reduce all these bundles of experiences into a single self. Great as is this higher individuality of the human monad, there is an individuality over and above this and far greater than it is. The Logos has an individuality of its own. When the soul rises to the Logos, all that this latter takes from the soul is that portion of the soul’s individuality which is high and spiritual enough to live in the individuality of the Logos; just as the Karana Sarira makes a choice between the various experiences of a man, and only assimilates such portions thereof as belong to its own nature, the. Logos, when it unites itself with the soul of a man, only takes from it that which is not repugnant to its nature.
    But now see what changes take place in the consciousness of the human being himself. The moment this union takes place, the individual at once feels that he is himself the Logos, the monad formed from whose light has been going through all the experiences which he has now added to his individuality. In fact his own individuality is lost, and he becomes endowed with the original individuality of the Logos. From the standpoint of the Logos the case stands thus. The Logos throws out a kind of feeler, as it were, of its own light into various organisms. This light vibrates along a series of incarnations, and whenever it produces spiritual tendencies, resulting in experience that is capable of being added to the individuality of the Logos, the Logos assimilates that experience. Thus the individuality of the man becomes the individuality of the Logos, and the human being united to the Logos thinks that this is one of the innumerable, spiritual individualities that he has assimilated and united in himself, that self being composed of the experiences which the Logos has accumulated, perhaps from the beginning of time. That individual will therefore never return to be born again on earth. O course if the Logos feels that It is born, whenever a new individual makes his appearance having its light in him, then the individual who has become assimilated with the Logos may no doubt be said to have punarjanmam. But the Logos does not suffer because its light is never contaminated by the Vikarams of Prakriti. Krishna points out that he is simply Upadrishtha, a witness, not personally interested in the result at all, except when a certain amount of spirituality is generated and the Mahatma is sufficiently purified to assimilate his soul with the Logos. Up to that time he says, “I have no personal concern, because I simply watch as a disinterested witness. Because my light appears in different organisms, I do not therefore suffer the pains and sorrows that a man may have to bear. My spiritual nature is in no way contaminated by the appearance of my light in various organisms.” One might just as well say that the sun is defiled or rendered impure, because its light shines in impure places. In like manner it cannot be true to say that the: Logos suffers. Therefore it is not the real self that feels pleasure or pain, and when a man assimilates his soul with the Logos, he no longer suffers either the pains or pleasures of human life.
    Again when I speak of the light of the Logos permeating this cosmos and vibrating in various incarnations, it does not necessarily follow that a being who has gone to the Logos is incarnated again. He has then a well defined spiritual individuality of his own, and though the Logos is Eswara, and its light is the Chaitanyam of the universe, and though the Logos from time to time assimilates with its own spiritual nature the purified souls of various Mahatmas, and also overshadows certain individuals, still the Logos itself never suffers and has nothing like Punarjanmam in the proper sense of the word; and a man who is absorbed into it becomes an immortal, spiritual being, a real Eswara in the cosmos, never to be reborn, and never again to be subject to the pains and pleasures of human life.
    It is only in this sense that you have to understand immortality. If unfortunately immortality is understood in the sense in which it is explained by the modern Vedantic writers and by the Cingalese Buddhists, it does not appear to be a very desirable object for man’s aspirations. If it be true, as these teach, that the individuality of man, instead of being ennobled and preserved and developed into a spiritual power, is destroyed and annihilated, then the word immortality becomes a meaningless term.
    I think I have the complete authority of Krishna for saying that this theory is correct, and this I believe to be, though all may not agree with me on this point, a correct statement of the doctrine of Sankaracharya and Buddha.
Turn now to chapter ix, verse 11:—
    “The deluded, not knowing my supreme nature, despise me, the Lord (Eswara) of all beings, when dwelling in a human body.”
Here Krishna calls himself the real Eswara. Again in verse 13 :—
    “The Mahatmas devoted to Daiviprakriti, and knowing me as the imperishable cause of all beings, worship me with their minds concentrated on me.”
    Here he refers to Daiviprakriti, between which and Mulaprakriti he draws a clear distinction. By some however this Daiviprakriti is looked upon as a thing to be shunned, a force that must be controlled. It is on the other hand a beneficent energy, by taking advantage of which a man may reach its centre and its source.
See verse 18 of the same chapter :—
    “I am the refuge, the protector, the Lord, the witness, the abode, the shelter, the friend, the source, the destruction, the place, the receptacle,
the imperishable seed.”
    All these epithets applied by Krishna to himself, show that he is speaking of himself in the same manner as Christ spoke of himself, or as every great teacher, who was supposed to have represented the Logos for the time being on this planet, spoke of himself.
Another very significant passage is verse 22 of the same chapter “I take interest in the welfare of those men, who worship me, and think
of me alone, with their attention always fixed on me.”
    I have told you that in the generality of cases Krishna, or the Logos, would simply be a disinterested witness, watching the career of the human monad, and not concerning itself with its interests. But, in cases where real spiritual progress is made, the way is prepared for a final connection with the Logos. It commences in this manner; the Logos begins to take a greater interest in the welfare of the individual, and becomes his light and his guide, and watches over him, and protects him. This is the way in which the approach of the Logos to the human soul commences. This interest increases more and more, till, when the man reaches the highest spiritual development, the Logos enters into him, and then, instead of finding within himself merely the reflection of the Logos, he finds the Logos itself. Then the final union takes place, after which there is no more incarnation for the man. It is only in such a case that the Logos becomes more than a disinterested spectator.
    I must here call your attention to verse 29 and the following verses at the end of this chapter :—
    “I am the same to all beings: I have neither friend nor foe those who worship Me with devotion are in Me, and I am in them.
    “Even if he whose conduct is wicked worships Me alone, he is to be regarded as a good man, for he is working in the right direction. “O son of Kunti, he soon becomes a virtuous person, and obtains eternal peace; rest assured that my worshipper does not perish.
    “Those who are born in sin and are devoted to Me, whether women, or Vaishyas, or Sudras, reach my supreme abode.
“How much more holy Brahmans and devoted Rajarshis, having come into this transient and miserable world, worship Me! “Fix thy mind on Me, worship Me, bow down to Me: those who depend on Me, and are devoted to Me, reach Me.”
    Here Krishna shows, by the two propositions that he is laying down that he is speaking from a thoroughly cosmopolitan standpoint. He says,” No one is my friend; no one is my enemy.” He has already pointed out the best way of gaining his friendship. He does not assume that any particular man is his enemy or his friend. We know that, even in the case of rakshasas, Prahlada became the greatest of bhagavahas. Krishna is thoroughly impartial in dealing with mankind, and in his spiritual ministration. He says it does not matter in the least to him what kind of asramam a man may have, what kind of ritual or formula of faith he professes; and he further says, that he does not make any distinction between Sudras and Brahmams, between men and women, between higher and lower classes. His help is extended to all there is but one way of reaching him; and that way may be utilized by anybody. In this respect he draws a distinction between the doctrines of the karmayogis and his own teaching. Some people say that certain privileged classes only are entitled to attain Nirvana. He says this is not the case. Moreover he must be taken to reject by implication the doctrine of certain Madhwas, who say that all souls can be divided into three divisions. They say that there is a certain class of people called Nityanarakikas, who are destined, whatever they may do, to go down to bottomless perdition; another class of people called