The Serpent Power. Arthur Avalon
Чтение книги онлайн.

Читать онлайн книгу The Serpent Power - Arthur Avalon страница 12

Название: The Serpent Power

Автор: Arthur Avalon

Издательство: Ingram

Жанр: Эзотерика

Серия:

isbn: 9781420971101

isbn:

СКАЧАТЬ he had roused Kundalī by meditative processes alone. In fact, as he wrote me, it was useless for him as a European to go into the minutia of Eastern Yoga. He, however, saw Idā and Pinggalā (v. post), and the “central fire” with a trembling aura of rosy light, and blue or azure light, and a white fire which rose up into the brain and flamed out in a winged radiance on either side of the head. Fire was seen flashing from center to center with such rapidity that he could see little of the vision, and movements of forces were seen in the bodies of others. The radiance or aura round Idā was seen as moonlike—that is, palest azure—and Pinggalā red or rather pale rosy opalescence. Kundalī appeared in vision as of intense golden-like white fire rather curled spirally. Taking the centers, Sushumnā, Idā, and Pinggalā, to be symbolized by the Caduceus of Mercury,{119} the little ball at the top of the rod was identified with the Sahasrāra or pineal gland,{120} and the wings as the flaming of auras on each side of the center when the fire strikes it. One night, being abnormally free from the infection of bodily desires, he felt the serpent uncoil, and it ran up, and he was “in a fountain of fire,” and felt, as he said, “the flames spreading wing-wise about my head, and there was a musical clashing as of cymbals, whilst some of these flames, like emanations, seemed to expand and meet like gathered wings over my head. I felt a rocking motion. I really felt frightened, as the Power seemed something which could consume me.” My friend wrote me that in his agitation he forgot to fix his mind on the Supreme, and so missed a divine adventure. Perhaps it was on this account that he said he did not regard the awakening of this power as a very high spiritual experience or on a level with other states of consciousness he experienced. The experience, however, convinced him that there was a real science and magic in the Indian books which treat of occult physiology.

      The Pandit’s observations on this experience were as follows: If the breath is stopped and the mind is carried downwards heat is felt. It is possible to “see” Kundalinī with the mental eye, and in this way to experience Her without actually arousing Her and bringing Her up, which can only be effected by the Yoga methods prescribed. Kundalinī may have thus been seen as Light in the basal center (Mūlādhāra). It was the Buddhi (v. post) which perceived Her, but as the experiencer had not been taught the practice he got confused. There is one simple test whether the Shakti is actually aroused. When she leaves a particular center the part so left becomes as cold and apparently lifeless as a corpse. The progress upwards may thus be externally verified by others. When the Shakti (Power) has reached the upper brain (Sahasrāra) the whole body is cold and corpse-like, except the top of the skull, where some warmth is felt, this being the place where the static and kinetic aspects of Consciousness unite.

      The present work is issued, not with the object of establishing the truth or expediency of the principles and methods of this form of Yoga (a matter which each will determine for himself), but as a first endeavor to supply, more particularly for those interested in occultism and mysticism, a fuller, more accurate, and rational presentation of the subject.

      An understanding of the recondite matters in the treatise here translated is, however, only possible if we first shortly summarize some of the philosophical and religious doctrines which underlie this work, and a knowledge of which in his reader is assumed by its author.

      The following sections, therefore, of this Introduction will deal firstly with the concepts of Consciousness{121} and Unconsciousness, and their association in the Embodied Spirit or Jīvātmā. Nextly the kinetic aspect of Spirit, or Shakti, is considered; its creative ideation and manifestation in the evolved macrocosm and in the human body or microcosm (Kshudrabrahmānda), which is a replica on small scale of the greater world. After an account of the Logos and the letters of speech, I conclude with the method of involution, or Yoga. The latter will not be understood unless the subject of the preceding sections has been mastered.

      It is necessary to explain and understand the theory of world evolution even in the practical matters with which this work is concerned. For as the Commentator says in v. 39, when dealing with the practice of Yoga, the rule is that things dissolve into that from which they originate, and the Yoga process here described is such dissolution (Laya). This return or dissolution process (Nivritti) in Yoga will not be understood unless the forward or creative (Pravritti) process is understood. Similar considerations apply to other matters here dealt with.

      II. CONSCIOUSNESS AND ITS POWER (SHIVA-SHAKTI)

      The bases of this Yoga are of a highly metaphysical and scientific character. For its understanding there is required a full acquaintance with Indian philosophy, religious doctrine, and ritual in general, and in particular with that presentment of these three matters which is given in the Shākta and Monistic (Advaita){122} Shaiva Tantras. It would need more than a bulky volume to describe and explain in any detail the nature and meaning of this Yoga, and the bases on which it rests. I must therefore assume in the reader either this general knowledge or a desire to acquire it, and confine myself to such an exposition of general principles and leading facts as will supply the key by which the doors leading to a theoretical knowledge of the subject may be opened by those desirous of passing through and beyond them, and as will thus facilitate the understanding of the difficult texts here translated. For on the practical side I can merely reproduce the directions given in the books, together with such explanations of them as I have received orally. Those who wish to go farther, and to put into actual process this Yoga, must learn directly of a Guru who has himself been through it (Siddha). His experience alone will say whether the aspirant is capable of success. It is said that of those who attempt it one out of a thousand may have success. If the latter enters upon the path, the Guru alone can save him from attendant risks, molding and guiding the practice as he will according to the particular capacities and needs of his disciples. Whilst, therefore, on this heading it is possible to explain some general principles, their application is dependent on the circumstances of each particular case.

      Veda says: “All this (that is, the manifold world) is (the one) Brahman” (Sarvvam khalvidam Brahma).{123} How the many can be the one{124} is variously explained by the different schools. The interpretation here given is that of the grand doctrine underlying and contained in the Shākta Tantras or Āgamas. In the first place, what is the one Reality which appears as many? What is the nature of Brahman as it is in itself (Svarūpa)? The answer is Sat-Chit-Ānanda—that is, being-feeling-consciousness-bliss. Consciousness or feeling, as such (Chit, or Chaitanya, or Samvit), is identical with being as such. Though in ordinary experience the two are essentially bound up together, they still seem to diverge from each other. Man by his constitution inveterately believes in an objective existence beyond and independent of himself. And this is so as long as, being embodied spirit (Jīvātmā), his consciousness is veiled by Māyā. But in the ultimate basis of experience, which is the Supreme Spirit (Paramātmā), the divergence has gone, for in it lie in undifferentiated mass experiencer, experience, and the experienced. When, however, we speak of Chit as feeling-consciousness we must remember that what we know and observe as such is only a limited changing manifestation of Chit, which is in itself the infinite changeless principle which is the background of all experience. This being-consciousness is absolute bliss (Ānanda), which is defined as “resting in the self” (Svarūpa-vishrānti). It is bliss because, being the infinite all (Pūrna), it can be in want of nothing. This blissful consciousness is the ultimate and real nature or Svarūpa, as it is called, of the one reality, the own form or the propria forma of the scholastics. Svarūpa is the nature of anything as it is in itself, as distinguished from what it may appear to be. This supreme consciousness is the Supreme Shiva (Parashiva). It never changes, but eternally endures the same throughout all change.

      But if this be so, how is it that everything we see is associated with apparent unconsciousness? Our mind is evidently not a pure, but a limited consciousness. What limits it must be something either in itself unconscious or, if conscious, capable of producing the appearance of unconsciousness.{125} In the phenomenal world there is nothing absolutely conscious nor absolutely unconscious. Consciousness and unconsciousness are always intermingled. Some things, however, appear to be more conscious, and some more unconscious than others. This is due to the fact that Chit, which СКАЧАТЬ