THEOSOPHY DOWNUNDER
Newsletter of the Theosophical Society (
No: 109 April 2013
"Rolling hills
and all sentient beings, now a little seared by January's record breaking heat,
wait anxiously for the Autumn rains." Photo by Stefan Carey near
Eternal Questions – Andrew Rooke.
Australian News.
Did
Ancient Indonesian Buddhists Reach
We are Consciousness: Pure Spirituality in Ancient Norse Tradition
- Guðrún
Kristín Magnúsdóttir.
International News.
A Word
is Not a Sparrow – Andrew Rooke.
The
Swastika: a Misunderstood Symbol of the Ancient Wisdom – G de Purucker. Dharma and Religion – Charles Reither.
Book
Reviews: The Mysterious Story of X7: Exploring the Spiritual Nature of Matter.
Proof of Heaven: a
Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife.
The
Thoughtful Guide to Sufism.
Introduction to Buddhism – Tony Downey.
Commentary on Ancient, Medieval and
Modern Texts: Part 3: The Surangama
Sutra - Don Shepherd.
ETERNAL
QUESTIONS – Andrew Rooke
We all start off our spiritual journey asking
some eternal questions: What is the meaning of Life?; Does God exist?; What
happens after Death?; Why is there Suffering in the world?; Why is there Evil?;
What is the nature of the Soul?; How can we make a better world?; How can there
be differences between religions if the Truth is One?
Our problems can start when inevitably we reach a point where we may
begin to challenge the answers to these questions provided by the religious
traditions of our own society. We may wish to move from commitment to a
particular religion to expressing our own innate spirituality. We hope to move
from faith alone to Understanding. We wish to progress from the hope of
salvation from an outside God or Gods to the long, lonely walk down the
spiritual path to enlightenment or transcendence through our own self-guided
efforts. Depending on the capacity for tolerance of our own religious
tradition, open-mindedness and questioning may meet with strong opposition!
The Great
Religious Dilemma: Most religions have a fundamental dilemma arising
from people wanting to ask our eternal questions. On the one hand, we have a monumental
religious organization – church, mosque, and temple – call it what you will –
built on religious dogma with a priesthood and rituals. Such a church is based
on faith in a dispensation of revealed spiritual knowledge which has to be
followed by devotees of that religion. The followers of such traditions are
usually the majority of people in any society around the world. Examples would
be – fundamentalist versions of Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Their advice
in answering our eternal questions would be: “The way to God is through our religion – join us!”
On the other hand, in every religious tradition around the world there
are always people who are asking awkward questions of their vicars and priests.
Such people want to ‘know’. They want to have knowledge and experience of
spiritual realities for themselves. They look inwardly for their spiritual
inspiration rather than outward to a monumental church or religious
professionals. Such people often end up being persecuted by the orthodox
majority. Examples would be: Gnostic Christians; Sufi Muslims; Baha’i devotees;
and Theosophists. Their advice in answering those eternal questions would be: “Religions are a testament to how far
mankind is away from God – go find the answers for yourself!”
In the Hall
of Learning: If our brave decision is to set foot on the
spiritual path alone and self-directed as to what we feel are the right answers
to our questions; we enter into what the ancient Egyptians called ‘The Hall of
Learning’. Here, we, in the company of other like-minded seekers, search for
instruction from spiritual teachers about the nature of spiritual realities.
Here questioning and discussion are necessary to learn and develop faster.
It is
worth bearing in mind that at any point in our long spiritual quest we should
remember a time-honoured principle of instruction in the teachings of the
Ancient Wisdom. We should always develop the habit of trying to answer our own
questions first before questioning our teachers. This habit builds spiritual self-reliance
and strengthens our connection with the only true spiritual master for every
seeker – our own ‘Higher Self’. If, once we have sincerely searched for an
answer, but still need further information, we should carefully frame our
questions for our teacher as he/she can only address those specific issues we
pose in our questions.
I guess the whole process can be summed up by saying that: “You can’t learn anything meaningful by
getting into the habit of looking up the answers in the back of your school
textbook!” You need to build up inner strength by working on problems
yourself so you may qualify as a teacher yourself someday.
In the hallowed ‘Hall of Learning’ we should not become egotistical
about what we think we know because spirituality is a never-ending quest. We
should always be prepared to change our view of spiritual realities as we grow
in understanding over time. We should be aware that the Hierarchy of Spiritual
Teachers will always offer further insights into spiritual truths as Humanity
develops its capacity to understand them on into the future.
In the
Hall of Wisdom: Advancing beyond the ‘Hall of Learning’ to the
‘Hall of Wisdom’ we move beyond reliance on others for spiritual knowledge to
increasing reliance on our own spiritual resources. Questioning without the
habit of self-examination first is completely discouraged as self-reliance is
vitally necessary to build inner strength as we advance. Ego-bound
self-justification in intellectual argument, such as forms the basic stuff of
university education, is discouraged as we should have accepted the reality of
the law of karma (Action and Reaction) by this stage.
All answers to ultimate questions come from within – so where does this
leave our teachers as we advance on the spiritual path? The teacher (Guru) and
Student (Chela) relationship is paramount and we must have complete trust in
our spiritual teacher once we accept him/her as knowing the ‘Truth’. It is said
that the relationship between the spiritual teacher and student is even closer
than that of a parent and child. A parent provides a body but the ‘Guru’
provides a means to a ‘Second Birth’ into spiritual realities. Trust and Faith
in the teacher’s knowledge is implicit in this relationship.
Plato called true education ‘Unforgetting’ our
way back to the source of Wisdom within. Essentially this means overcoming the
power of the Lower Ego with its limited and selfish perspectives, and reaching
out to the fiery source of our being – the Higher Self. As our intuitive
capacity develops through a greater identification with the ‘Higher-Self’
within, we can begin to spontaneously appreciate the answers to many of the
eternal questions which so vexed us at the beginning of our search. – Andrew Rooke,
An interesting film – What the
bleep to we know? - giving perspectives from modern science on some
of these ancient questions is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioONhpIJ-NY
and
also the second part of the film ‘Down the Rabbit Hole’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usMsTPg-hHk
“There is a road, steep and thorny, beset with perils of every kind,
but yet a road, and it leads to the very heart of the Universe: I can tell you
how to find those who will show you the secret gateway that opens inward only,
and closes fast behind the neophyte evermore. There is no danger that dauntless
courage cannot conquer; there is no trial that spotless purity cannot pass
through; there is no difficulty that strong intellect cannot surmount. For
those who win onwards there is reward past all telling – the power to bless and
save humanity; for those who fail, there are other lives in which success may
come.” – HP Blavatsky- Co-Founder of the Theosophical
Society -September 1891.
AUSTRALIAN NEWS
Email Addresses: in future years we will be sending
this newsletter by email, so if you have not already done so, could you please
send your email address to the Editor at: andrewrooke@hotmail.com.
Meetings in Melbourne April through July 2013: all meetings are held at the Theosophical
Society Pasadena Library Centre located at
Sat.
April 6th,
Sat. April 20th,
Sat.
May 4th,
Sat. May 18th,
Sat.
June 1st,
Sat. June 15th,
Sat.
July 7th,
Wednesday
discussion group: at the TS
New on our website: our website is at www.theosophydownunder.org
Newly added to the ‘Theosophy Downunder
Library’ section of the website are the following articles: Freyja:
Great Goddess of Creation and We Are Consciousness: Paganism, Heathenry, and Asatru contain the purest ancient wisdom and theosophy - both
articles by Gudrun Kristin Magnusdottir;
One God or Many? Where did the idea of One God come from? The enduring
legacy of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaton – Jennifer Pignataro; Spiritual Initiation: perspectives from
Theosophy – Andrew Rooke; Paganism, Heathenry
and Wicca: echoes of the ancient wisdom of
New Books in the Library: we have a large collection of books
at our
Universal Spirituality Group: in November our TS gave a talk at
the Universal Spirituality Group at Templestowe, in the northern suburbs of
We can cure physical
diseases with medicine. But the only cure for loneliness, despair and
hopelessness is Love. – Mother Teresa.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
News from the British Section: it is
with sadness we report the passing to greater light of Renee Hall after a long
illness. Renee was National Secretary of the British Section for many years from
the 1980s. Many members who visited the
The ‘Landfillharmonic’
Orchestra: an inspiring
film is available on YouTube about an orchestra based
in a slum built on a rubbish tip in
Sacred Texts Online: Many
formerly rare sacred texts are now freely available to everyone on the
internet. Why not check out the following: Mysticism, Christian and Buddhist by Daisetz
Teitaro Suzuki: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/mcb/index.htm Finding texts about Australian Aboriginal religion in the
public domain is extremely difficult. There is a landslide of 19th and early
20th Century books and articles about American and African indigenous
traditions, many treating the subject with sensitivity and great depth. Only a
few Australian works from this period are available, and most of them are
pretty vague on the details. Some of this can be attributed to the traditional
tribal secrecy, which is maintained even to this day: http://www.sacred-texts.com/aus/index.htm
The Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries by Thomas Taylor http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/ebm/index.htm
The Myth of the Birth of the Hero by Otto Rank http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/mbh/index.htm#contents Many sacred texts are available at: http://www.sacred-texts.com/download.htm
here is a site where you may download any of the books listed in catalog for free, or to read directly from site. - Sotiria Galanoupoulou,
The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the
measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self.” –
Albert Einstein.
DID ANCIENT INDONESIAN
BUDDHISTS REACH
[The wisdom traditions of many lands speak of ancient
civilizations stretching back into the past beyond the scope of currently
accepted archaeological time-scales. In addition, it seems that ancient peoples
travelled more widely than has been suspected until recently as is described as
a possibility by Robert Dick-Read’s original research
on the ancient seafaring people’s of our northern neighbours from
There is a tendency to underestimate
the prowess of ancient voyagers, with the result that important historical
events sometimes lie hidden simply because we have not believed them possible. Indonesian
activity in
The problem stems from the fact that Southeast Asian
historians have rarely looked beyond their boundaries, while Africanists have confined themselves rigidly to their
continent, thus leading to serious historical distortions in both regions.
Replica of an ancient
Indonesian ship
Misconceptions might well have remained thus but for one
anomaly … the island of Madagascar, whose Austronesian language-base is more
similar to that of Easter Island 14,000 miles to the east than to that of
African languages a mere 200 miles to the west.
In the centuries before Islam, and the subsequent Muslim
settlement of the East African coast – and before Bantu-speaking people
migrated in large numbers from their homelands in Western Africa, the
indigenous people of Eastern Africa were mainly San hunter-gatherers, relatives
of Southern Africa’s Bushmen of today who lived a simple, primitive, life. But on the coast, for many years living
alongside the San, were also people who became known as the ‘Zanj’ whose precise origins have remained enigmatic. Careful observation, however, leaves little
doubt that the Zanj must have been a polyglot mix of
autochthonous Africans, and Indonesians whose mariners enabled them to occupy
Although, apart from a few later Arab records, there is no
documentary evidence to help us – and though, as we shall see, there must have
been contacts centuries earlier - the most prolific period of contacts between
Southeast Asia and Africa probably came after the middle of the first
millennium AD when the powerful Mahayana Buddhist state of Srivijaya
(Sumatra and Java), with its well organised fleets of Bugis,
Bajau, and
Though
Both
As we shall see in Part 2, there was a rather different scenario
between
Editor’s note: A different view of the origins of
civilisation in
I would like to live like a river that flows,
carried by the surprise of its own unfolding. – John O’Donohue.
WE
Something
is missing in our education. No-one seems
to tell us why we choose to be born. Neither do we know what is the purpose of
our being here on earth in a highly evolved physical body. What is the purpose
of it all? We seemingly do not know that we choose to be born for our purpose -
even less do we realize how intelligently we manage to do so.
Many
seem to be too concerned with their all-worldly systems and ´labels´, never
getting beyond all that to the very core of philosophy and spirituality: Our
purpose of existence. What we are in reality: in Icelandic -‘Ginnungagap’
(the great ‘void’) - Consciousness.
We choose to be born in this world to enable our spiritual
evolution towards enlightenment, but - do we know?
One
of our ancient NorseGod‘s, Óðin´s, many meaningful names includes the purpose
of our life-spans: This his name is Síðhöttur, from Sanskrit सिद्धर्थ siddh-artha, ´perfection as
a goal´. Unfortunately very few of us know this. The fewer know how to evolve
quickly towards that goal and purpose. Even if we have that, too, in our Norse
spiritual heritage. Transcending is called in Icelandic, ´nýsa niður´, which is ‘transcending’, reaching Nirvana. But how
many understand?
Actually,
we are deprived of wisdom when it comes to purpose of existence. Our modern
education has been, until now, leading us astray from this exulted purpose
-180° off-course. We were not taught the fundamental knowledge of life. Even if
Jesus tells us to find Heaven ‘within’, we keep looking for it ‘out-there’. It
is not ‘out-there’. It is ‘in-here’. But now, fortunately, Conscious-Based
Education is avaliable for all students, from Kindergarten to PhD.
To
find Heaven Within is becoming the easiest thing on earth, because we now have
the technique to transcend. Transcend our thoughts and unite individual
consciousness with cosmic consciousness. Amongst many techniques purporting to
represent such knowledge and practical paths to it in the modern world, I have
found that there is a real Yoga tailored for us, the ‘you and me’ living in
this busy world - the TM-technique, Transcendental Meditation. Easy to learn,
and natural to the mind, as mind, by its inherent nature, seeks greater and
greater happiness and finds it here. Within. ‘In-here’. Leaving the ‘out-there’
completely for a while, leaving all thoughts. Mind in least agitation, emerges,
by its own natural tendency, into Eternity.
The
greatness and profundity of our reverent Norse forefathers´ great epic poem,
The Edda, has
always been realized by some. I recall
in year 1947, in our Icelandic Theosofical Society´s magazine, Gangleri, an article on Heathenry
(Paganry) as being pure Theosophy.
Gangleri, one of Óðin´s many
meaningful names, is from Sanskrit गङ्ग gangalahari, a ‘wave of wisdom’ from the sacred
river गङ्ग (Ganga).
In,
The Hávamál, one of our famous
Edda-poems, we learn (in verses 138 - 163) to transcend, nýsa niður, so
we shall gain the true skill in action in the world. This fundamental knowledge
is intellectually understood only by a few. Sorry to say, it is practiced and
lived by even fewer.
But
now, by giving ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ an innocent ‘kiss of unconditional love’,
we wake up. We are re-discovering the profound understanding and the abyss of
knowledge and wisdom that our reverent forefathers possessed.
The
Supreme Purpose of this noble creature ´Mankind´, possessing this our
marvellous, highly evolved, human nervous system, is to enliven the link
between the Absolute and the Relative. By transcending, we enliven The Field,
and regain the Perfect Order into our world of living men. We should use this
our precious human attribute for this High and Noble purpose. - by Guðrún
Kristín Magnúsdóttir, Álfaheiði, Iceland.
[Editor’s
note: For the comprehensive article, WE ARE CONSCIOUSNESS: Paganism, Heathenry, and Asatru
contain the purest ancient wisdom and theosophy by Guðrún Kristín Magnúsdóttir,
published
electronically, please go to our website in the ´Theosophy Downunder
Library´ section of our Theosophy Downunder website
at: www.theosophydownunder.org
For those interested in Norse traditional wisdom, keep an eye out for a book by Guðrún
in English coming up 2013: Óðsmál -- The Unseen Reality -- Understanding
Allegory and Symbolic Language of Myths and Ancient Poems -- On Heathenry‘s
Abyss -- Science of Consciousness ISBN 978 9935 409 84 3 - by Guðrún Kristín Magnúsdóttir 2013, which will be sold online through
Amazon. Also, why not check out the YouTube series by
Guðrún which is in English language, all about the
abyss of Heathenry; revealing the Allegory and the symbolic language by which
the sacred Wisdom of the ancient Norse is conveyed to us in the modern world. Guðrún comments about the symbology of Heathenry: “The
crude ones laugh, the pure ones get enlightened by understanding.” On YouTube search: Goiagodi
and Heathenry Iceland Chatter.]
“… at some point you have to recognize what role it is that you
belong to, what power rules it, and from what Source you spring. You should
recognize that there is a limit to the time assigned to you, and you if don’t
use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return.” – Marcus
Aurelius – Meditations.
A
WORD IS NOT A SPARROW – Andrew Rooke
There
is an old Russian saying which says that “a word is
not a sparrow”. This means that we should think carefully about everything
we say because words have power.
In
the Buddhist tradition, ‘Right Speech’ is placed third in the list of qualities
which make up the ‘Noble Eightfold Path’ – Right Views, Right Aspirations,
Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness,
and Right Contemplation. These are the suggested life habits for those who
wish to obtain spiritual understanding, or, as the Buddhists themselves would
say that this is the Path that “opens the eyes, bestows understanding, and
leads to peace of mind, to the higher wisdom.”
Theosophical
teacher HP Blavatsky tells us that students of the
Mysteries in ancient times were careful about reciting accounts of historical
or religious events lest the powers originally associated with the event should
once again be awakened. No such wise restraint seems apparent today when the
media and our political leaders often indulge in highly critical language as
their stock in trade. Unfortunately, this attitude of constant criticism and
verbally destroying one’s opponent is built into our education system and is
widespread amongst young people who often indulge in strong language as part of
normal conversation. What then is the occult reason for us to be careful 
about our thoughts and speech?
Theosophical
teacher William Quan Judge gave an excellent answer
to this question when discussing the old English proverb that says: “Curses are
like chickens, they come home to roost”. He shows that the power of speech is
related to the operation of ‘elemental spirits’ in nature. ‘Elementals’
according to theosophy are the invisible, semi-intelligent, energetic forces of
nature that are referred to in all folk traditions of the world in various ways
as ‘Fairies’, ‘Goblins’, ‘Gnomes’, and the like. He explains that these
elemental forces are not the product of primitive imagination, but a real and
essential part of nature’s regular operations in our everyday activities, even
though we may be completely unaware of the fact. He goes on to say:
“…The
world of elementals is an important factor in our world and in the course of
the student (of the Mysteries of Life). Each thought as it is evolved by a man
coalesces instantly with an elemental, and is then beyond the man’s power. It
can easily be seen that this process is going on every instant. Therefore, each
thought exists as an entity. Its length of life depends upon two things: (a)
The original force of the person’s will and thought; (b) The power of the
elemental which coalesced with it, the latter being determined by the class to
which the elemental belongs. This is the case with good and bad thoughts alike,
and as the will behind the generality of wicked thoughts is usually powerful,
we can see that the result is very important, because the elemental has no
conscience and obtains its constitution and direction from the thought it may
from time to time carry. Each human being has his own elementals that partake
of his nature and his thoughts. If you fix your thoughts upon a person in
anger, or in critical, uncharitable judgement, you attract to yourself a number
of those elementals that belong to, generate, and are generated by this
particular fault or failing, and they precipitate themselves upon you. Hence,
through the injustice of your merely human condemnation, which cannot know the
source and causes of the action of another, you at once become a sharer of his
fault or failing by your own act, and the spirit expelled returns “with seven
devils worse that himself”. This is the origin of the popular saying that:
“curses like chickens come home to roost”, and has its root in the laws
governing magnetic affinity”. – W.Q.Judge
Epitome of Theosophy. Page 20
With
these thoughts ringing in our ears, shouldn’t we modern day students of the
mystery tradition be much more careful of what we think and say? – Andrew Rooke,
A friend gave me some good advice… “Ego is the only requirement to
destroy any relationship. Be a bigger person; skip the E, and let it…Go! One
good thing about Egotists: They don't talk about other people!”
THE
SWASTIKA: a misunderstood symbol of the ancient wisdom – G. de Purucker.
The Swastika is a symbol most people associate with the
horrors of the Nazi Party in World War II
Svastika, Swastika (Sanskrit) Svastika An auspicious or lucky
object; especially applied to the mystic symbol — a cross with four equal arms,
the extremities of which are bent sharply at right angles, all in the same
direction — marked upon persons and things in order to denote good luck,
although originally the symbol had a far deeper significance. Sometimes the
arms are bent to the left, sometimes to the right. The symbol is very
widespread, and extremely ancient, engraved on every rock-temple and
prehistoric building in
One of the most
comprehensive, important, and philosophically scientific symbols, it is a
symbolic summary of the whole work of evolution in cosmos and man, from Brahman
down to the smallest biological unit. “Few world-symbols are more pregnant with
real occult meaning than the Svastika. It is
symbolized by the figure 6; for, like that figure, it points in its concrete
imagery, as the ideograph of the number does, to the Zenith and the Nadir, to
North, South, West, and East; . . . It is the emblem of the activity of Fohat, of the continual revolution of the ‘wheels,’ and of
the Four Elements, the ‘Sacred Four,’ in their mystical, and not alone in their
cosmical meaning; further its four arms, bent at
right angles, are intimately related . . . to the Pythagorean and Hermetic
scales. One initiated into the mysteries of the meaning of the Svastika, say the Commentaries, ‘can trace on it, with
mathematical precision, the evolution of Kosmos and
the whole period of Sandhya.’
Also ‘the relation of the Seen to the Unseen,’ and ‘the first
procreation of man and species’ ” (SD 2:587). The bent arms also signify
the continual revolution of the invisible cosmos of forces, which on our plane
becomes the revolution in time of the world’s axes and their equatorial belts.
In alchemy its shows that by the unceasing revolution of the four elements,
equilibrium about a stable centre is attained, the circle is generated out of
straight lines, the complex and changeful nature becomes one. The two crossed
lines represent spirit and matter, male and female, positive and negative. It
shows man to be a link between heaven and earth, for the horizontal arm having
one hook pointing up, the other down. In its applicability to all planes it
contains the key to the seven great mysteries of kosmos.
In addition, local
writer Charles Reither comments:
“…The Swastika is one of the original symbols of the cross. The four arms displayed pointing in an anti-clockwise continuation being a symbol of Nazi Germany; but when displayed pointing in a clockwise continuation it is a symbol of well-being. In reference to a person, it means that the person is well resided in all four aspects - Spirit, Soul, Mind, and Body….”
DHARMA
The question inevitably arises,
particularly among those who have studied religions, “What was the ancient religion
of
The answer is there was no
religion in ancient
Any attempt for religion is
naturally limited and narrowed when compared with this. The Vedas and the
subsequent literature, which explains the Vedas, exemplify this law. In fact,
Vedic teachings are amassed under the umbrella-term Sanatana
Dharma, meaning Eternal Religion. There is no name like Hinduism or
Indian religion in any one of the ancient books. Even Gautama Buddha
had no religion. He once again purified
the law and re-established it. After his
death, his followers narrowed the law into a religion.
Dharma is the teaching of the truth
about the way things are.
Dharma is a comprehensive term
for the natural laws and eternal principles that uphold the divine order of the
universe and of man who is a miniature universe.
Sankhya
philosophy (one of the six schools of Indian philosophy providing a system of
analytical metaphysics), defines true religion as ‘those immutable principles’
that protect us permanently from the threefold suffering of disease,
unhappiness and ignorance.
Conformity to law or natural
righteousness is a duty inherent in the circumstances in which we find
ourselves at any given time; and the practice of the natural universal laws
whose observance enables us to save ourselves from degradation and
suffering.
The dharma or natural order of
the senses is to provide a means of exchange between the perceiving
reincarnating Ego or soul and the objects perceived.
It is said that religion is
required for those who are not yet prepared to follow and appreciate the law of
Dharma. Alternatively, as I have said
before, religion is a prop or support for those who have not yet acquired the
spiritual strength or know-how; and/or are not prepared to assume the
responsibility for their own spiritual development and progress; and for that
matter their ‘salvation’; which no one can assume responsibility for
other than ourselves.
Ever since the universal path
of Dharma has been degraded and insulted by us, by belittling ourselves to fit
into the pattern of a man-made religion, we are forced to face the religious
political and social intrigues, situations and sufferings we are confronted
with. – Charles Reither,
BOOK
REVIEWS
The
Mysterious Story of X7: exploring the spiritual nature of matter by anonymous authors, published by Findhorn Press, 2001.
What can be more valuable and
compelling than a real spiritual experience well documented and explained? We
are usually treasuring the bits and pieces of such information when reading
spiritual writings, and often guessing what kind of events lead to it. And here
we have a report in a form of a diary spanning almost 3.5 years: from
The
contents of this book is presumably reported by a group of anonymous prisoners
of conscience incarcerated in a salt mine in
When
commencing reading, you would not even imagine that such things as described
simply could not be, but the farther you read the more compelling the text
becomes. When showing the phenomena of Light radiations that became
simultaneously their object of experiment and its tool, the authors recognize
these radiations, or Light Rays, as the very source of everything, and explain
some mechanisms of how they are working. X7 are demonstrating knowledge of
mechanisms and processes that exoteric science is yet unaware of until now,
though there are some hints from esoteric sources that this is so. The X7 not
only theorize, but live this knowledge as a practical daily reality in their
supposed darkness inside the Earth.
What is
more, they are experimenting with the Earth itself. Applying their newly-
acquired abilities they send radiations to melt the Earth’s substance into
light and then create forms of matter out of this light. These rays also heal
and nurture them and they are not much in need of coarse chemical processes of
food consumption and turning it into energy for their sustenance.
What was
new and very valuable for me was that they researched and explained in detail
the colour-sound properties of the radiations in connection with their
potential for those who are able to perceive them. The whole spectrum of colour
and tone, which result from energy vibrations of different frequencies, can be
divided depending on their functions, each of which is allotted a colour and
tone. For example, the colour blue has a sustaining quality – the major quality
through which creation is held in form.
Every
living being on Earth manifests certain qualities of radiations which formed
it. For example, a tree demonstrates its “treeness”
as something strong yet growing and changing. We people as living beings are
also constantly absorbing a radiation of different colours and tones and the
very quality of our life depends on their combination which we are receiving
and giving out. As the X7 state, “the Ray of Love is the greatest because it
has the essence of all things within it, and from it all things are made.”
A lot of
wisdom is emanating from this little book which I would recommend to every
Seeker for Universal Truth. A lot of findings are for everyone, and there is a
sense of amazement throughout the book about how much exertion is necessary to
come to such understanding and abilities!
And at lastly,
how could this supreme knowledge could be transmitted to the world from a
Siberian mine during the repressive Stalinist era in
Proof of Heaven: a Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife by Dr Eben Alexander, Macmillan, 2012.
In
2008, Dr Eben Alexander contracted bacterial
meningitis, a deadly brain infection, and he slipped into a coma for seven
days. Even though his body lay seemingly lifeless in the Intensive Care Unit,
this book describes his amazing spiritual journey whilst his body lay close to
death. He describes how first he descended into a mucky jelly-like realm which
he describes as the ‘Realm of the Earth-Worm View’ (Kama
Loka?), then guided by a beautiful girl (Spiritual
Guide?) on the wings of a butterfly onwards to an immense void through ‘The
Gateway’ into a stunningly beautiful landscape (lower reaches of Devachan?) with orb-like spiritual beings flying high above
and then gradual absorption into an ‘Orb of Light’ (Higher Self?) which taught
him lessons on the nature of spiritual reality by becoming that reality which
underlies our manifest universe. He goes on to reconcile his experiences with
his neuroscientist’s knowledge of medical conditions and even quantum theory
from modern physics to show that his experiences were very real to him.
None
of this will surprise theosophical students familiar with the various
after-death realms described in theosophical classics and by our ancestors from
many lands. What is new is the impact this book has already had on millions of
people world-wide as this was an instant no.1 best-seller when it was published
in late 2012; the author’s subsequent interview with famous TV interviewer
Oprah Winfrey; and the fact that the author is a medical doctor and a brain
specialist at that. This book is an extremely valuable addition to ‘Rational’
or ‘Evidence-Based’ spiritual knowledge which is very appealing to the modern
Western mind and encourages those unlikely to accept spiritual teachings from
more traditional sources. As Dr Alexander himself
says: “…it is my belief that we are facing a crucial time in our existence. We
need to recover more of that larger knowledge while living here on earth…” This
book is highly recommended as an influential contribution to the literature of
‘Near Death Experience’ and ‘Rational Spirituality’. – Andrew Rooke,
The Thoughtful Guide to Sufism by Shaykh
Fahhlalla Haeri. Published in
Many people in Western countries
have a negative view of Islam based on fear of militant Islamic
fundamentalists. The images of 9/11 are etched deep into the psyche of the
West. How refreshing and much needed therefore, to have a book which clearly
shows the great depth and mystical understanding possessed in the Islamic
tradition known as ‘Sufism’. Sufism is the generic name for a movement that
arose 200 years after the coming of the prophet Mohammed in reaction to the
decline in the moral and ethical tone of Islamic rulers. Since then Sufis have
been known as the keepers of the mystical inner ‘law’ of Islam. In plain
language the Sufi author explains the way of the Sufi in almost theosophic
terms: “…Sufism is primarily concerned with the ‘heart’ that reflects the truth
which exists within it, beyond time and in time. The Sufi is the whole human
being. He recognizes that his reality is beyond time and space and yet he
understands that he himself is caught in his body in order to experience the
duality of time and space in this world. The Sufi is the one who realizes the
courtesy due to the prison of his body which has been given to him on loan for
a few years. He is aware of the fact that he is returning to the abode of
infinite bliss from which he originally emerged. Sufism is an art of ‘Beingness’ through the attainment of divine knowledge. It
is not an intellectual exercise for scholarly investigations and postgraduate
studies…” – page 36. This book is thoroughly recommended for Westerners seeking
a greater understanding of the inner spirit of Islam. – reviewed by Andrew Rooke,
I must be willing to give up what I am to become what I will be –
Albert Einstein.
INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHISM –
Tony Downey
Siddharta Gautama, later known as The Buddha, was born approximately
566 BC as a Prince into a small kingdom in the North-East of
One day he ventured outside
the palace for the first time in his life and saw a sick man, then a beggar,
and finally a dead body. He then realized the reality of the world. Thinking
about the suffering he had seen that day, he left the palace and started his
search to ease the suffering of his fellow man. He wandered through
In this sermon he outlined
his philosophy that there is suffering in all components of individuality. The cause of suffering is craving and desire.
Suffering can be stopped by the cessation of craving and desire. The way to end
suffering he called the Eightfold Path, which if followed correctly would lead
to the attainment of Nirvana (enlightenment) by the elimination of ignorance
and selfishness.
The eight steps are – Right
Views, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right
Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. The Buddha (meaning the enlightened One) wandered through
Over the centuries Buddhism
spread from
COMMENTARY
ON ANCIENT, MEDIEVAL
The 8th
century Chinese translation of the Buddhist Surangama
Sutra, or Indestructible Scripture,
attempts to take the discussion of monism and enmeshment to even deeper levels.
By presenting the relationship between awareness and objects as a paradox in
which neither one is created or conditioned, the Sutra collapses the apparent
distinction separating these two phases of life into a monistic unity—a
unity that allows the aspirant to grasp the fundamentals of enlightenment for
the first time.
To
do this, the Sutra initiates a discourse between the Buddha and his student
Ananda on the process of physical vision—the ability
of the human eye to see. The Buddha deconstructs the notion that the physical
eye sees at all; rather, the mind sees. With eyes closed in a pitch-black room,
it becomes clear that there is an awareness pervading physical vision viewing
the darkness. This awareness is described as possessing no defining attributes—no
movement, no limitation of spatial dimension, no quality, no sensation—other
than its ability to pervade objects (ie: the physical eye) as sheer understanding. It is this—or what has
been referred to as that or TAT in
the Sanskrit—which actually does the seeing in the world.
When
the light is turned on in the room and objects come into view, it is the same
visual awareness doing the seeing as when the lights were turned off. The state
of awareness remains the same; light and dark don’t create or
condition it. As for the objects (ie:
chair, lamp, desk) that are seen, they were there whether it was dark or light;
the light did not cause them to come into existence, the darkness does not
cause them to go out of existence, and awareness of them is irrelevant to the
extent of their durability. All the light does is allow awareness, in some
mysterious way, to become entangled with objects—to become “openly”
diffused throughout the seven primary elements composing the skandhas (qualities) pertaining to one
of the twelve classes of beings stretching across the ten directions of the
cosmos or Dharma Realm.
The
paradox, then, is that awareness, which is the root of objects due to its
pervasive quality, does not in fact create or condition those objects as it
possesses no other qualities to do so. Awareness is simply pervasive understanding and nothing more. It cannot create,
destroy, or condition. The flicking on and off of the light gives the
appearance of objects ceasing and coming into being, but the objects are there
all the time. And the objects did not bring themselves into existence. Thus,
objects arise from nowhere (as awareness is nowhere) and, despite their
apparent movement (metaphorically the flicking of lights), go nowhere. If
awareness, the source of objects, is nothing and nowhere, then objects that owe
their existence to it cannot be spoken of as being created. In that realisation
that objects share in the absence of a cause—just like
self-sustaining awareness which needs nothing to bring it into being—the
division between the two disappears, spirit and matter (as awareness and
object) are recognised as co-eternal, and the stillness inside interfuses with
the elements to become the stillness outside.
Seeing
this paradox—that things can still exist without being created because
their apparent source lacks the qualities to create them and thus they come
from nowhere—provokes the “ah-ha”
moment much in the style of the 13th
century Turkish writer Mulla Nasrudin in which the enigma of contradiction
causes thought to stop in a flash of inspiration, bringing about a brief
unification of the inward mind and the outward environment (the requisite for
enlightenment) and forcing the individual to reassess himself as eternal in all
his parts yet only bringing certain of those parts into activity at any one
time. This state of unity is Tathagata-garbha,
the womb-chamber for the “coming” and “going”
forth of the Buddha-nature – Don Shepherd,
Los Vegas, Nevada, USA.
*Text:
The Surangama Sutra - A New Translation with Excerpts from the
Commentary by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua. Ukiah: Buddhist Text
Translation Society, 2009.
“ When I was 5 years
old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went
to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’.
They told me that I didn’t
understand the assignment, and I told them that they didn’t understand life.” –
John Lennon of the Beatles.
Theosophy Downunder
is issued three times per year in
April, August, and December and is edited by Andrew Rooke.
We can be contacted at the Theosophical Society (
