Sacred Texts Study Group

‘’but the Raj Yogi, without using either of these methods, has a way of rousing the Kundalini, The means the Raj Yogi employs belong to the mysteries of initiation’’ (T. Subba Row – Notes on Hatha Yoga – Theosophist 1886 v8 December p.138).

Perhaps what Subba Row was referring to can be glimpsed in the following by Bhavani Shankar:

The Doct…[Read more]

In stanza 37, There is mention of the ‘’death of the soul’’ doctrine (see stanza 14, breaking the silver thread)
This passage also has some echoes from a Tantric Kundalini practice description from the Jnaneshvari (Verses 192 -318). The Jnaneshvari is a commentary on the Gita, this passage is from Chapter 6, The Yoga of Meditation.
See also TH…[Read more]

37- Let not thy “Heaven-born,” merged in the sea of Mâyâ, break from the Universal Parent (SOUL), but let the fiery power retire into the inmost chamber, the chamber of the Heart (23) and the abode of the World’s Mother (24).
(23). The inner chamber of the Heart, called in Sanskrit Brahmapura. The “fiery power” is Kundalinî.
(24). The “Power” an…[Read more]

32- That which is uncreate abides in thee, Disciple, as it abides in that Hall. If thou would’st reach it and blend the two, thou must divest thyself of thy dark garments of illusion. Stifle the voice of flesh, allow no image of the senses to get between its light and thine that thus the twain may blend in one. And having learnt thine own Ajñâna (…[Read more]

27- If thou would’st cross the first Hall safely, let not thy mind mistake the fires of lust that burn therein for the Sunlight of life.

28- If thou would’st cross the second safely, stop not the fragrance of its stupefying blossoms to inhale. If freed thou would’st be from the Karmic chains, seek not for thy Guru in those Mâyâvic regions.

But…[Read more]

Table of the Cosmic Bird correspondences

‘A—————————– right wing
‘Upanishad’——————– left
‘M’—————————- tail
Ardha-Matra (half-metre)——- head
(Rajasic and Tamasic)———- feet upwards (to the loins)
Sattva————————–(main) body
Dharma————————–right eye
Adhar…[Read more]

“Lucifer, the Astral Light . . . . is an intermediate force existing in all creation, it serves to create and to destroy, and the Fall of Adam was an erotic intoxication which has rendered his generation a slave to this fatal light . . . every sexual passion that overpowers our senses is a whirlwind of that light which seeks to drag us towards t…[Read more]

21 – Three Halls, O weary pilgrim, lead to the end of toils. Three Halls, O conqueror of Mâra, will bring thee through three states (14) into the fourth (15) and thence into the seven worlds (16), the worlds of Rest Eternal.
(14). The three states of consciousness, which are Jâgrat, the waking; Svapna, the dreaming; and Sushupti, the deep s…[Read more]

Read carefully, Lanoo, light your lamp with care, the following terms must be studied well before passing on to the next stage…

Iddhi/ Siddhi
Nâda
Dhâranâ
rājā of the senses
Slayer of the Real
Asat
Sat
Silent Speaker
inner ear
Voice of the Silence
Great Master
Higher Self
Avalokiteśvara
Âdi-Buddha
Atmâ
Christos
Silver Thread
shy turtle…[Read more]

How is everybody doing? I cannot begin to say how much I’ve learned since embarking on this study. I’ve come to notice this text fits rather well within a certain framework of other texts such as the Nadabindu Upanishad, Light on the Path, Baghavad Gita/Janeshwari and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, so there is a harmony there that gives a wider…[Read more]

20 Bestride the Bird of Life, if thou would’st know (12).
(12). Says the same Nâda-Bindu, “A Yogi who bestrides the Hamsa (thus contemplates on Aum) is not affected by Karmic influences or crores of sins.”

The passage below (a kind of Macrocosmic-Microcosmic correspondence) is perhaps similar to the image of Adam Kadmon’s body and the co…[Read more]

19 Saith the Great Law: — “In order to become the knower of ALL SELF (9) thou hast first of self to be the knower.” To reach the knowledge of that self, thou hast to give up Self to Non-Self, Being to Non-Being, and then thou canst repose between the wings of the GREAT BIRD. Aye, sweet is rest between the wings of that which is not born, nor d…[Read more]

15 When to the World’s turmoil thy budding soul (5) lends ear; when to the roaring voice of the great illusion thy Soul responds (6); when frightened at the sight of the hot tears of pain, when deafened by the cries of distress, thy soul withdraws like the shy turtle within the carapace of SELFHOOD, learn, O Disciple, of her Silent “God,” thy Soul…[Read more]

Avalokiteśvara
Avalokiteswara (Sk.) “The on-looking Lord” In the exoteric interpretation, he is Padmapâni (the lotus bearer and the lotus-born) in Tibet, the first divine ancestor of the Tibetans, the complete incarnation or Avatar of Avalokiteswara; but in esoteric philosophy Avaloki, the “on-looker”, is the Higher Self, while Padmapâni…[Read more]

14 – And say: —
If thy soul smiles while bathing in the Sunlight of thy Life; if thy soul sings within her chrysalis of flesh and matter; if thy soul weeps inside her castle of illusion; if thy soul struggles to break the silver thread that binds her to the MASTER (4); know, O Disciple, thy Soul is of the earth.
(4). The “great Master” is the t…[Read more]

Thank you, Peter, for the beautiful illustration.

Hi Gerry,
One of the key characteristics of twilight is that we experience the light of the sun in the world while the sun itself is below (or ‘beyond’) our horizon. We sense it’s light while the source of that light is yet beyond our sight. It’s the period of time in the morning from first light until the sun rises over the horizon. And its…[Read more]

Would anyone care to elaborate the meaning of this beguiling passage?:

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.

What correlation might we draw to the interior principles in m…[Read more]

When waxing stronger, thy Soul glides forth from her secure retreat; and breaking loose from the protecting shrine, extends her silver thread and rushes onward; when beholding her image on the waves of Space she whispers, “This is I,”—declare, O Disciple, that thy Soul is caught in the webs of delusion.7

This Earth, Disciple, is the Hall of Sorro…[Read more]

Just as, without fuel, a fire
Dies down in its own birthplace
On the ceasing of its movements, the mind
Dies down in its own birthplace.

For the mind which, desiring truth,
Has died down in its own birthplace
And is not deluded, the sense objects,
In the power of desire, are false.
(Maitri Upanishad, 6.4)

Summing up so far, this first section,…[Read more]