Hi, I have no idea where to post this but I've recently read the book "Voice of the Silence" written by Madame H.P. Blavatsky and wanted to share some of the paragraphs inside. Maybe it is possible to have a "Theosophy" forum? It would be great to have one as the literature in theosophy (the original, not the frauds Leadbeater/Annie Besant) is quite extensive and supplementary.
Here is the
original work, if you are interested. I'll just post some paragraphs I found interesting below. I do this also mainly so I can verify with the seasoned meditators here.
These instructions are for those ignorant of the dangers of the lower IDDHI (synonym of Siddhi/psychic faculties).
He who would hear the voice of Nada, "the Soundless Sound", and comprehend it, he has to learn the nature of Dhyana.
Having become indifferent to objects of perception, the pupil must seek out the Rajah of the senses,the Thought-Producer, he who awakes illusion.
The Mind is the great Slayer of the Real.
Let the Disciple slay the Slayer.
For--
When to himself his form appears unreal, as do on waking all the forms he sees in dreams;
When he has ceased to hear the many, he may discern the ONE - the inner sound which kills the outer.
Then only, not till then, shall he forsake the region of Asat, the false, to come unto the realm of Sat, the true.
Before the soul can see, the Harmony within ust be attained, and fleshly eyes be rendered blind to all illusion.
Before the Soul can hear, the image (man) has to become as deaf to roarings as to whispers, to cries of bellowing elephants as to the silvery buzzing of the golden fire-fly.
Before the soul can comprehend and may remember, she must unto the Silent Speaker be united just as the form to which the clay is modelled, is first united with the potter's mind.
For then the soul will hear, and will remember.
And then to the inner ear will speak --
THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE
And say:
If thy Soul smiles while bathing in the Sunlight of thy Life; if thy Soul sings within her chrysalis of flesh and matter, if the Soul weeps inside her castle of illusion; if thy Soul struggles to break the silver thread that binds her to the MASTER (noted as the "Higher Self" or "Atma" by Brahmins or "Christos" with the Gnostics), know, O Disciple, thy Soul is of the earth.
When to the World's turmoil thy budding Soul ("Manas" or the Human Ego) lends ear, when to the roaring voice of the great illusion thy soul responds, when frightened at the sight of the hot tears of pain; when deafened by the cries of distress, the soul withdraws like the shy turtle within the carapace of SELFHOOD, learn, O Disciple, of her Silent "God", thy Soul is an unworthy shrine.
When waxing stronger, thy Soul glides forth from her secure retreat: and breaking loose from the protecting shrine, extends her silver thread and rushes onward; when beholding her image on the waves of Space she whispers, "This is I," - declare, O Disciple, that thy soul is caught in the webs of Maya.
This Earth, Disciple, is the Hall of Sorrow, wherein are set along the Path of dire probations, traps to ensnare thy EGO by the delusion called "Great Heresy" (separateness of Self from the universal Self).
This earth, O ignorant Disciple, is but the dismal entrance leading to the twilight that precedes the valley of true light -- that light which no wind can extinguish, that light which burns without a wick or fuel.
Saith the Great Law: "In order to become the KNOWER of ALL SELF (The "Tattvajyani" or knower/discriminator of principles in nature and man), thou hast first of SELF to be the knower." To reach the knolwedge of that SELF, thou hast to give up Self to Non-self, Being to Non-Being, and then thou canst repose between the wings of the GREAT BIRD. Aye, sweet is rest between the wings of that which is not born, nor dies, but is the AUM ("Hansa" the bird: Left wing is "A", right wing is "U", tail is "M" and head is the Ardha-matra) throughout the eternal ages (meaning the "age" of Brahma).
Give up thy life, if thou would'st live.
Three Halls, O weary pilgrim, lead to the end of toils. Three Halls, O conqueror of Mara, will bring thee through three states (the waking, dreaming and deep sleeping state) into the fourth (dreamless state/state of high spiritual consciousness) and thence into the seven worlds, the worlds of Rest Eternal.
If thou would'st learn their names, then hearken, and remember.
The name of the first Hall is IGNORANCE - Avidya.
It is the Hall in which thou saw'st the light, in which thou livest and shalt die (The World of Senses and terrestrial consciousness).
The name of the Hall the second is the Hall of LEARNING (Bhagavad Gita: "The Mind which follows the rambling sesnses makes the Soul as helpless as the boat which the wind leads astray upon the waters). In it thy Soul will find the blossoms of life, but under every flower a serpent coiled (Great "astral serpent" of Eliphas Levi which represents the world of Great Illusion, a Psychic/astral world of supersensuous perceptions and deceptive sights).
The name of the third Hall is WISDOM, beyond which stretch the shoreless waters of AKSHARA, the indestructible Fount of Omniscience.
If thou would'st cross the first Hall safely, let not thy mind mistake the fires of lust that burn therin for the sunlight of life.
If thou would'st cross the second safely, stop not the fragrance of its stupefying blossoms to inhale. If freed thou would'st be from teh karmic chains, seek not for thy Guru in those Mayavic regions.
The WISE ONES tarry not in pleasure-grounds of senses.
The WISE ONES heed not the sweet-tongued voices of illusion.
Seek for him who is to give the birth, in the Hall of Wisdom, the Hall which lies beyond, wherein all shadows are unknown, and where the light of truth shines with unfading glory.
That which is uncreate abides in thee, Disciple, as it abides in that Hall. If thou would'st reach it and blend the two, thou must divest thyself of thy dark garments of illusion. Stifle the voice of flesh, allow no image of the senses to get between its light and thine, that thus the twain may blend in one. And having learn thine own Ajnyana (ignorance/non-wisdom), flee from the Hall of Learning. This Hall is dangerous in its perfidious beauty, is needed but for thy probation. Beware, Lanoo, lest dazzled by illusive radiance thy Soul should linger and be caught in its deceptive light.
The light shines from the jewel of the Great Ensnarer, Mara. The senses it bewitches, blinds the mind, and leaves the unwary an abandoned wreck.
The moth attracted to the dazzling flame of thy night-lamp is doomed to perish in the viscid oil. The unwary Soul that fails to grapple with the mocking demon of illusion, will return to earth the slave of Mara.
Behold the Hosts of Souls. Watch how they hover o'er the stormy sea of human life, and how exhausted, bleeding, broken-winged, hey drop one after other on the swelling waves. Tossed by fierce winds, chased by the gale, they drift into the eddies an disappear within the first great vortex.
If through the Hall of Wisdom, thou would'st reach the Vale of Bliss, Disciple, close fast thy senses against the great dire heresy of Separateness that weans thee from the rest.
Let not thy "Heaven-born", merged in the sea of Maya, break from the Universal Parent (SOUL), but let the fiery power (ie. Kundalini) retire into the inmost chamber, the chamber of the Heart and the abode of the World's Mother (another name given to Kundalini, "Buddhi" as an active principle).
Then from the heart that Power shall rise into the sixth, the middle region, the place between thine eyes, when it becomes the breath of ONE-SOUL, the voice which filleth all, thy Master's voice.
Tis only then thou canst become a "Walker of the Sky" (The Yogi's body becomes one formed of wind, "cloud from which limbs sprout out", after which he beholds things beyond seas and stars, hears and comprehends Deva language and perceives what is passing in the mind of an ant.) who treads the winds above the waves, whose step touches not the waters.
Before thou set'st thy foot upon the ladder's upper rung, the ladder of the mystic sounds, thou hast to hear the voice of thy inner GOD (Higher Self) in seven manners.
The first is like the nightingale's sweet voice chanting a song of parting to its mate.
The second comes as the sound of a silver cymbal of the Dhyanis, awakening the twinkling stars.
The next is the plaint melodious of the ocean-sprite imprisoned in its shell.
And this is followed by the chant of Vina (Indian stringed instrument).
The fifth like sound of bamboo-flute shrills in thine ear.
It changes next to a trumpet-blast.
The last vibrates like the dull rumbling of a thunder-cloud.
The seventh swallows all the other sounds. they die, and then are heard no more.
When the six principles are slain (meaning the lower personality is destroyed) and at the Master's feet are aid, then is the pupil merged into the ONE, becomes that ONE and lives therin.
Before that path is entered, thou must destroy thy lunar body (astral form - Kama-rupa or desire-body), cleanse thy mind-body (astral/personal Self / reincarnating Ego whose consciousness has to be paralyzed) and make clean thy heart.
Eternal life's pure waters, clear and crystal, with the monsoon's tempest's muddy torrents cannot mingle.
Heaven's dew-drop glittering in the morn's first sun-beam within the bosom of the lotus, when dropped on earth becomes a piece of clay; behold, the pearl is now a speck of mire.
Strive with thy thoughts unclean before they overpower thee. Use them as they will thee, for if thou sparest them and they take root and grow, know well, these thoughts will overpower and kill thee. Beware, Disciple, suffer not, e'en though it be their shadow, to approach. For it will grow, increase in size and power, and then this thing of darkness will absorb thy being before thou hast well realized the black foul monster's presence.
Before the "mystic Power" can make of thee a god, Lanoo, thou must have gained the faculty to slay thy lunar form at will.
The Self of Matter and the Self of Spirit can never meet. One of the twain must disappear, there is no place for both.
Ere thy Soul's mind can understand, the bud of personality must be crushed out, the worm of sense destroyed past resurrection.
Thou canst not travel on the Path before thou hast become that Path itself.
Let thy Soul lend its ear to every cry of pain like as the lotus bares its heart to drink the morning sun.
Let not the fierce Sun dry one tear of pain before thyself hast wiped it from teh sufferer's eye.
But let each burning human tear drop on thy heart and there remain, nor ever brush it off, until the pain that caused it is removed.
These tears, O thou of heart most merciful, these are the streams that irrigate the fields of charity immortal. 'Tis on such soil that grows the midnight blossom of Buddha more difficult to find, more rare to view than is the flower of the Vogay tree. It is the seed of freedom from rebirth. It isolates the Arhat both from strife and lust, it leads him through the fields of Being onto the peace and bliss known only in the land of Silence and Non-Being.
Kill out desire; but if thou killest it, take heed lest from the dead it should again arise.
Kill love of life, but if thou slayest Taha (will to live), let this not be for the thirst of life eternal, but to replace the fleeting by the everlasting.
Desire nothing.Chafe not at Karma, nor at Nature's changeless laws. But struggle only with the personal, the transitory, the evanescent and the perishable.
Help Nature and work on with her; and Nature will regard thee as one of her creators and make obeisance.
And she will open wide before thee the portals of her secret chambers, lay bare before thy gaze the treasures hidden in the very depths of her pure virgin bosom. Unsullied by the hand of matter she shows her treasures only to the eye of Spirit - the eye which never closes, the eye for which there is no veil in all her kingdoms.
[...continued in the doc...]
Here is the
link again.
What do you think? I feel like she is describing the process of Jhana.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this work.
PS: Is it only me? I find the language so entrancing and beautiful. "The lotus bares its heart to drink the morning sun", it's so poetic.
