Blavatsky on the Efficacy of Funeral Ceremonies

The text below was written in response to a question concerned mainly about problems with Parsi funeral customs in response to early Theosophical writings on Devachan. The original text quotes from the Desatir. This work is similar to the Zohar, in that it is a mystical text that claims to have ancient origins, and is newly presented in mysterious circumstances, a mode of presentation occasionally found with esoteric texts. Blavatsky supports the intrinsic validity of the text, but it has been disparaged  by most modern scholars, a notable exception being Henri Corbin, who accepts the intrinsic merit of its mystical content.

In every country, as among all the peoples of the world from the beginning of history, we see that some kind of burial is performed—but that very few among the so-called savage primitive races had or have any funeral rites or ceremonies. The well-meaning tenderness felt by us for the dead bodies of those whom we loved or respected, may have suggested, apart from the expression of natural grief, some additional marks of family respect for them who have left us forever. But rites and ceremonies as prescribed by our respective Churches and their theologians, are an afterthought of the priest, an outgrowth of theological and clerical ambition, seeking to impress upon the laity a superstition, a well-paying awe and dread of a punishment of which the priest himself knows nothing beyond mere speculative and often very illogical hypotheses. 

The Brahmin, the Mobed, the Augur, the Rabbi, the Moolah and the Priest, impressed with the fact that their physical welfare depended far more upon his parishioners, whether dead or alive, than the spiritual welfare of the latter on his alleged mediatorship between men and God, found the device expedient and good, and ever since worked on this line. Funeral rites have originated among the theocratically governed nations, such as the ancient Egyptians, Aryans, and Jews. Interwoven with, and consecrated by the ceremonies of theology, these rites have been adopted by the respective religions of nearly all the nations, and are preserved by them to this day; for while religions differ considerably among themselves, the rites often surviving the people as the religion to which they owed their origin have passed from one people to another. 

Thus, for instance, the threefold sprinkling with earth with which the Christian is consigned to the tomb, is handed down to the Westerners from the Pagan Greeks, and Romans; and modern Parseeism owes a considerable portion of its prescribed funeral rites, we believe, to the Hindus, much in their present mode of worship being due to the grafts of Hinduism. Abraham and other Patriarchs were buried without any rites, and even in Leviticus (19:28) the Israelites are forbidden to “make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks” upon themselves.

Nor, from the occult standpoint, do such rites benefit in the least the departed soul. The correct comprehension of the law of Karma is entirely opposed to the idea. As no person’s karma can be either lightened or overburdened with the good or bad actions of the next of kin of the departed one, every man having his karma independent and distinct from that of his neighbour—no more can the departed soul be made responsible for the doings of those it left behind. As some make the credulous believe that the four principles may be made to suffer from colics, if the survivors ate immoderately of some fruit.  

Zoroastrianism and Hinduism have wise laws—far wiser than those of the Christians—for the disposal of their dead, but their superstitions are still very great. For while the idea that the presence of the dead brings pollution to the living is no better than a superstition, unworthy of the enlightened age we live in, the real cause of the religious prohibition to handle too closely the dead and to bury them without first subjecting the bodies to the disinfectant process of either fire, vultures or aqua-fortis (the latter the prevailing method of the Parsees in days of old) was as beneficent in its results as it was wise, since it was the best and most necessary sanitary precaution against epidemics. The Christians might do worse than borrow that law from the “Pagans,” since no further than a few years back, a whole province of Russia was nearly depopulated, in consequence of the crowded condition of its burial ground. Too numerous interments within a limited space and a comparatively short time saturate the earth with the products of decomposition to such a degree, as to make it incapable of further absorbing them, and the decomposition under such a condition being retarded its products escape directly into the atmosphere, bringing on epidemic diseases and plagues. “Let the dead bury their dead”—were wise words, though to this day no theologian seems to have understood their real and profound meaning. There were no funeral rites or ceremonies at the death of either Zoroaster, Moses, or Buddha, beyond the simple putting out of the way of the living the corpses of them who had gone before.

Note 1 - Twelve hours at least had to elapse between the death of the person and the burning or the destruction by any other means of the corpse of the dead. This old law was equally forgotten by the Brahmins as by the Zoroastrians. It was not the act of burning that was forbidden, but the burning before the corpse was empty, viz. before the inner principles had had time to get entirely liberated. As the aqua fortis was thought possessed of an occult property to that effect, hence the preliminary burning of the flesh by this means—with the Fersendajians.

Note 2—A ceremony to furnish the shell “with an armour” against terrestrial attraction need not be repeated “a number of years” to become efficacious, could it but be performed by a person versed in the knowledge of the Magi of old. One such ceremony on the night of death would suffice. But where is the Mobed or priest capable of performing it now? It requires a true occultist—and these are not found at every street corner. Hence—it becomes useless to add ruin to the living, since the dead cannot be helped. (The Theosophist, June & August, 1883)

Patanjali's Yoga Sutras -Book 2 - Rama Prasad

Continuing a basic summary of the four books of  Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, by Rama Prasad, with some suggestive observations of an esoteric nature, from the introduction to his translation: Patanjalis Yoga Sutras with the Commentary of Vyasa and the Gloss of Vachaspati Misra (1912). See   Part 1

 The art of Yoga consists in bringing under control and purifying the three lower vehicles of man, namely, the body, the mind and the spiritual Self- the astro-physical, mental, and the causal bodies. The astro-physical body is to be purified and brought under control by what are called ascetic practices,- early rising, bathing, fasting, bearing hardships, etc., in short, all that go under the name of Tapas-or austerities. The mental body must be purified and strengthened by study, by acquiring knowledge. An ignorant person cannot be a Yogi. The causal or spiritual body is to be developed by entire devotion to God. Thus an atheist cannot be a true Yogi (In Raja Yoga, these three bodies are called Sthulopadi, Sukshmopadhi, and Karanopadhi in Sanskrit, ed.).

These three helps-austerities, study and resignation to the will of God facilitate trance and remove " afflictions." (Sanskrit: klesha, ed.) The "affliction" is the technical name of certain intellectual and emotional weaknesses to which all human beings are liable. They are five in number :-(l) The first is the Nescience or Wrong Notion of things objective-mistaking the non-eternal for the eternal, the impure for the pure, the painful for the pleasurable, or non-Self for the Self. (2) The second is the wrong notion about things subjective-identifying one's Self with the vehicles in which the Self function, taking the bodies for the soul. These two are intellectual defects, (3) The third is the emotional weakness. It is the desire natural of man, running after pleasant things. (4) The fourth also is emotional- hatred of things that give pain. Thus these two-love and hate are emotional defects. The fifth defect is neither intellectual nor emotional-it is instinctive- the instinct of self-preservation-the instinctive fear of death-the love of life. These are the five " afflictions of Yoga - Avidya, Asmita, Raga, Dvesa and Abhinivesa- Nescience, Egoism, love and hatred and instinctive dread of death.  These "afflictions" are destroyed by meditation and the methods already mentioned. 

These "afflictions" are the root of the body of transmigration, the root of re-incarnation, of birth, life and suffering. The pleasure and pain which a man suffers are the result of his past acts, the virtuous acts are the seed of pleasure, the vicious of pain. The word " affliction" is thus a purely technical term, for it includes the high heavenly pleasure also which is the result of virtuous actions. But in the philosophy of Yoga as well as that of Sankhya--all such pleasures are also considered as pains: because philosophically the world is painful, all its experiences, even those which people call pleasurable, are painful to the philosopher. This is stated in the memorable aphorism, II. 15, p. 100. 

All world-experience being thus painful, the philosopher seeks to find the root-cause of this experience and this is the conjunction of the knower and the knowable-the Self and the not-Self. Because man is tied with mind, and cannot extricate himself from the embraces of mind-matter that he suffers. When he masters the mind, and is not her slave, then there is no pain-there is no necessary experiencing of joy and sorrow. The non-ego to which the man is tied has the three well-known attributes or Gunas - Sattva, Rajas and Tamas- the Light, the Activity and the Inertia-is the source of all elements, and producer of all sensations and senses. 

The Yoga system of cosmogony is the same as that of the Sankhya, so far as the evolution of the world-elements out of the Primordial matter called Prakriti is concerned. It is summarised in II. 19. 

What is the nature of the Self ? This question naturally arises after one has learned the nature of the non-Self. The man is pure consciousness : I and the non-Self exists for him. If man is pure consciousness, how does he perceive the non-Self? He knows the non-ego by a sort of reflex action. The mind catches the reflection of the non-Self ; and the man becomes conscious of that reflection. The man is thus the seer of the pictures in the mind. The non-ego or the knowable thus exists for the sake of the Man. In the state of Mukti (liberation, ed.), there exists no knowable for that Man. Though to the Perfect Man there is no knowable, it does not mean that the knowable ceases to exist. It exists with regard to the other souls that have not reached perfection.

A question is often asked: If the ultimate goal is the separation of man from the non-Self, the knowable, why was this conjunction between the two brought about? Why was man tied down to non-Self, to matter-mind ? The answer to this is: In order that Man may perfect his nature by acquiring all experiences and passing through them. Unless the Man learns all that the Matter-Mind has to teach, the conjunction is not broken. The effective cause of this conjunction lies in the Avidya-the Wrong Notion (or ignorance, ed.). When, therefore, the Ayidya or Nescience is removed, the  conjunction is removed and the Man shakes off the eternal burden. How is the Avidya to be removed? The Avidya being Wrong Notion, can be removed only by Right Notion call Viveka-Khyati or Discriminative knowledge. His discriminative knowledge has seven stages-four dealing with the phenomenal knowledge and three with the mental or subjective notions, as described in II. 27. It is on reaching this that the title of Adept or Kusala is given to the Yogi. 

The acquisition of this Adeptship is through the practice of eightfold Yoga. The famous phrase Ashtanga Yoga refers to this. The eight accessories of Yoga are enumerated in II. 29. Five of these are external, as with the last three. The eight Angas are so important that it can well bear repetition here. 

First, Practice Restraint, i.e., be moral. This restraint or Yama consists of five sub-divisions :-(a) do not kill or injure any being. Be kind to all. Ahimsa; (b) Speak and act truth; (c) Steal not, nor acquire illicit gains ; (d) Practise continence and celibacy; d) Be not avaricious. These are universal rules. 

Second, Niyama or Observance. This is also five-fold :(a) Be clean in body and mind, (b) Be contented, (c) Practise asceticism and austerity, (d) Study sacred books, (e) Be devoted to God. 

While practising Yama and Niyama, if obstacles arise, always try to think of the opposite quality. If he feels a strong desire to tell a falsehood, let him not fight the desire, by a frontal attack, by checking it. Let him substitute the opposite desire-the beauty of truthfulness. If he hates another, let him think of the good qualities of that man. If he is in danger of breaking the vow of celibacy, let him think of the glorious future of the Brahmachari. Pratipasa ga Bhavana-thinking of the contrary- is the key of success. It is the great strategy in this moral battle, and is embodied in II. 33. The moral qualities mentioned in Yama, must be absolutely observed-no sophistical diminution of their absolute nature is allowed to the Yogi. To him the moral laws are absolute. Thus the first rule of Ahimsa says " kill not." This is an absolute rule. There cannot be any exceptions or reservations. The enemies of the country, the renegades of religion, the blasphemers of sages and saints, the murderer, the criminal-kill none. To Yogi the vow of non-killing is absolute. He must not kill even in self-defence of himself or of his near and dear ones. Hence the rule says : "They (Yama) are the great vow universal, and not limited by caste, country, age and condition." (II. 31). So also with truth. One must not lie for the sake of one's country or State or Brahmana or cow, &c. Not only this: there are certain omissions which become as bad as actual commissions of these sins. He incurs sin if he causes another to do it or permits its being done. 

The third Anga of Yoga is Asana or posture. No particular posture is obligatory, but the posture must be such as is steady and easy; not painful or irksome. The various postures given in books of Hatha Yoga such as Gheranda Samhita or Siva Samhita are useful as physical exercises, for the otherwise sedentary Yogi. 

The fourth Anga of Yoga is the much abused Pranayama or the Regulation of breath. The Yoga has come to mean, in the thoughts of many, posturing and nose-closing. But the right regulation of breath as a mental and physical effect was pointed out long ago. The Western science has come to recognise its advantages and Books of Breathing are not as rare now as they were when we first wrote about it in 1882. 

The fifth anga of Yoga is Pratyahara or Abstraction. It is a state of catalepsy when the senses do not come into contact with their objects. It is the state of the inhibition of the senses. A pistol may be fired near the ear of the Yogi and he will not hear it. Ammonia may be held under his nostrils and he will not smell it, and so on. 

All the above five are Bahiranga or the external. The internal Yoga which has to deal with the mind and mind alone consists of the last three Angas-Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. 

Book 3 

Mohini Chatterji on Karma – Sowing and Reaping 1

From May to September 1886, an intriguing short story by Mohini Chatterji ran in the Theosophist, entitled Sowing and Reaping. It is a fascinating story about karma and reincarnation in the east and the west, and contains certain recondite passages involving the teachings of a spiritual guide to a student, sometimes of an esoteric nature, some extracts which will be featured in a short series of posts.

The teaching is hard to understand, Master,” I said to my venerated Brahmin preceptor. " If desire for an object forges a fresh link in the chain of material bondage in which the soul is held, it is obvious that, as no action can take place otherwise than in consequence of desire of some sort—some want demanding fulfillment the student of the Spiritual Science would have to become a St. Simon Stylites.[1] Where, then, is there room for the performance of duty?” 

“It is true, my son,” replied the Master, “there is a cessation of action for the liberated soul, whether embodied or disembodied, but forcible repression of activity is not the rest of the beatified soul. Truth cannot be obtained by pretence. It does not avail to shut your eyes and say you are liberated if you are really not so. Constant repetition of the name of medicine does not cure disease, says Sankara.[2] It is not for you to say “ I shall be inactive,” but when your soul awakes there will be no action for you. That rest which is emancipation is as independent of your will as is the sensation of heat when fire is near. You can approach the fire or go away from it according to choice, but you cannot help being affected by the heat when you are near its source. If you are hot you are not cooled by merely saying that you are cool. Again, a determination to be inactive, on the face of it shows that the unity of being, the Supreme Spirit, has not been realized. There is no determination necessary to bring into existence that which already exists.”

“But, master, deign to explain how Buddha worked on for forty years after his liberation.” 

"Ah my son, it is a great mystery which you will not comprehend. I believe you are now satisfied that the root of false faith and doubt is not intellectual but moral deficiency. So long as there is the slightest trace of personal desire in you the Law of Karma will govern your evolution, you will enjoy the fruit of the good that you do, and suffer for your evil acts. When spiritual knowledge extinguishes all personal desire and removes the individual from the operation of Karma, then only can the purified soul comprehend the nature of those who are liberated while in the flesh. Those who have attained this condition of freedom from Karma are alone entitled to admission into our Brotherhood.” "

“But how does one get beyond Karma ?”

“As I have said, by a natural elimination of all personal desire.” 

“Then, on the instant I renounce my personality, renounce all self-seated, desire, Master, then bid me follow you to the home of rest and leave this world of passion behind.” 

“ Ah, my son,” said the Brahman ascetic smiling, “ you can no more renounce your personality in that way than you can renounce the colour of your skin. Cessation of karma comes only from the excess of good karma. Remember what is said in the Bhagavad Gita :—It is better to perish in the performance of one’s own duty; the performance of another’s duty is attended with danger.[3] Seek not to leave the life that is yours till it drops from you of itself. The vow that you were taking has really to be taken in silence by your soul when it is temporarily freed from your body. Practice the seven virtues, rectitude, gentleness, modesty, devotion to truth, patience, sympathy and right knowledge, and if your soul attain s the required purity, you will find me ready to receive you this day twelvemonth. But it is right that you should not be kept in ignorance’ of what ensues when the mysterious vow is taken. You will cease to acquire new karma, but the old karma will have to exhaust itself. The wheel will continue to move even after the potter’s hand has ceased to turn it. The causes, previously generated by you, which in the ordinary course of nature would take a number of incarnations to work themselves off, will be crowded into a very short space of time, and your whole being will suffer a convulsion from which nothing will save you but unselfishness and determination of will. Think of this and beware while there yet is time. But if this day twelve-month finds you as resolute as you are now, you shall have permission to try your footsteps on the path that leads to the higher life. But I give you the warning, the path is rugged and steep. I have no right to interfere with the birth right liberties of a human being; you can but obey your karma, the behests of your soul in other incarnations, the ancestors of the present. Now, farewell. Remember this day twelve-month.”

The Theosophist, May, 1886. v. 7, no. 80, pp. 517-18

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[1] Simeon Stylites or Symeon the Stylite (c. 390? – 459) was a Syriac ascetic saint who achieved notability for living 37 years on a small platform on top of a pillar near Aleppo (in modern Syria).

[2] Adi Shankaracharya (733–746 CE) was an Indian philosopher and theologian who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta. He is credited with unifying and establishing the main currents of thought in Hinduism. See Vivekachudaman, verse 62.

[3] Bhagavad Gita, 18, 47

Part 2