Hercules, the Superman of the Greeks, is enchanting as ever. The charming hero draws the attention of one and all alike. From the kids to the students of symbolism, Hercules stands out to be a source of study, understanding, and of joy.

The life of Hercules reveals many dimensions, besides being heroic as it is with many Greek heroes; Many events relating to his life, as also the accomplishments, indicate the age-old Path to Truth.

Dr. Sri K. Parvathi Kumar, a Teacher of Ancient Wisdom, unveils many dimensions of Hercules using the astrological key as the means. Dr. Sri K. Parvathi Kumar is acclaimed as an enchanting Teacher of Ancient Wisdom. His teaching ranges from Yoga to children's education, from Vedic symbolism to Occidental “theism”, from astrology to healing, from homoeopathy to ayurvedic principles.

Hercules - the Man and the Symbol, was a teaching given in May 1994 in Engelberg, Switzerland, to groups from 12 nations gathered for the purpose of experiencing the group consciousness through a group living. The teaching now finds expression in a book, on demand from the group.

The approach to the theme is fresh and is deeply engaging. Dhanishta deems it a pleasure to bring forth this publication for the benefit of the reading public.

Dhanishta

The 85^th May Call Day Celebration

I extend a very hearty welcome to all of you. This group living should enable us to experience the energies that are presented to us. We are in a good valley in Switzerland, called Engelberg. As the very name suggests, it is the “Valley of. The Angels”. So we should be able to experience the presence of the angels by adapting to the Nature here.

I see this group living as a good opportunity for variety of reasons; twelve nations are represented here today, and it is the seventh May Call Day celebration in Europe. The first May Call that was celebrated in Europe was conducted in the Italian Alps in 1988, and we are here now again in the Alps in 1994 to conduct the seventh May Call.

Incidentally this is also the completion of a cycle of 84 May Calls since 1910. The first May Call was called forth in 1910 by Master CVV and at that time there was a handful of people around Master CVV in Kumbhakonam. Now a cycle of 84 years has been completed and this becomes the 85th May Call Day. A new cycle has been inaugurated.

An Uranian cycle consists of 84 years. One round of Uranus is completed, and the cycle of 84 years has done its work on the planet. We are in - the beginning of the second round, and it is expected that there will be more and more inflow of Energies of Synthesis, where the barriers of separativity gradually disappear more effectively. So we are in a fresh cycle, where we find more and more synthesis worked out and more and more, disappearance of separativities. It is an aspect of time, which we need to look into. Even from this standpoint, this May Call is very important.

To celebrate it in this valley is another important factor. The place is charged with good energy. We are enveloped amidst the mountains, and it is said that the peak here carries the energy of the angels. It has been the frequent experience of the disciples that they are visited by angels from time to time. The shape of the peak itself is very interesting to look at.

The Planetary Co-Operation

A real disciple is one who has equanimity to meet either situation. We have the good opportunity of a grand trine-taking place with Jupiter in Scorpio, the grand Master Saturn in Pisces, and Venus in Cancer. They make a grand trine that would enable us to experience the synthesis of the three planets. The effectiveness of Jupiter while working in triangle is well known to the students of astrology. Jupiter especially stands for expansion of Consciousness, and wisdom is a tool for such expansion. When it is in trine with Saturn it gives a deep experience of the expansion of Consciousness. Venus stands for experience. So we have the Venusian, the Jupiterian, and the Saturnian triangle during this group living.

When there is a planetary co-operation, a little effort from our side would enable us to experience something that is hidden in us. When there is no such co-operation, it is fraught with difficulties to experience that which is hidden in us. There is a good planetary co-operation during this group living, which should be put to fruition. There is also a degree sextile taking place between Uranus and Pluto, with Pluto in Scorpio and Uranus and Neptune in Capricorn.

Sometimes good intentions are given very strong co-operation by the great planetary beings. With this as the backdrop, we continue our meditational work here and also our learning of the occult side of things.

The Occult Side Of The Universe

We are all accustomed to 'form'. The purpose of our group living, where wisdom is taught, is to reveal that which is hidden in the form. To reveal oneself to oneself, and to make an understanding that the form is the media for expression of that which is formless. The occult study is only directed towards this end. The form as basis, or the symbol as basis, the forces and the energies that are functioning from behind, their patterns and their functioning through time, the laws they observe while so functioning -this is what is expected to be understood and experienced within and without.

First we have to experience the Universe within. Then it enables us to experience the Universe outside. As we open door after door within our own Being, we permeate more and more into the portals of the Universe. The process of expansion is through a process of introversion. We shall have to withdraw into the cave of our heart, and from there permeate into the occult side of the Universe. That is where the understanding of astrology, sound, colour, and number become significant in the occult study.

The Story Of A World Disciple

The story of Hercules is one such study. The story of every disciple has the same stations to pass through. The general pattern is always the same, while in detail it is variant. The variance is for the splendour of it. Each time we travel from one place to the other, the travel is from point A to point B. The stations are the same, but each time the travel gives us a different detail. Likewise the stories of the disciples carry the same stations of enlightenment, but in detail they vary, only to give us the splendour of variety.

Hercules is one such grand story, which carries behind the myth, a grand universal pattern. It is this pattern that a disciple encounters as he treads on the Path. We will try to see how it is when we get into the labours of Hercules. It is the story of a world disciple. We have similar stories all over the globe. The commonness can be very clearly seen when we get into the occult side of things.

Herculean Task!

Initially we interact with names and forms, and the rest of the interactions happen subjectively. The form is shown and the name is told. Later, through name and form, we start experiencing the Soul by overcoming the pentagon of the senses and the triangle of the behavioural qualities.

If we have to meet the Soul in the other unit, in the occult way, we shall have to go through the pentagon or the activity of the five senses. We also have to go through the three qualities, which are known as inertia, dynamism, and poise. Through the centre of the triangle, if we can still go through, there is the possibility of meeting the Soul. Each one of us is a unit consciousness. We have the triangle of qualities through which we function, the pentagonal senses through which we express, and the seven-tissued body through which the Inner Being, called the Soul, conducts.

Thus, we have to go through three portals to meet the Soul. Meeting the Soul is only possible when we recollect that the other unit of consciousness is as much a Soul as we are. As much as I think: “I AM”, so is the one that is presented to me. We have to recollect everyone as Soul enveloped by qualities and emotions. The aggregate of qualities and emotions is called the personality, which decides the form that each one puts up. Above all, the form carries a name!

These are the veils we have to lift to experience the presence of the Soul as it is presented to us through forms. It is likely that we are allergic to some names, and even while listening to such names, already there is the shut-up. That means, even in the first round we are beaten. Names cause the shut-up, and some forms cause the shut-up, and when they start behaving it is still more difficult. Behind all this, there is the Light of the Soul, which we are expected to meet in a group living like this. So it is a Herculean task. This is the labour: we gather, to do, just like Hercules did, his labour.

These labours are really Herculean when we forget that which is common between us, and it is very common that we forget that which is common between us. It is uncommon for us to recollect that we are Souls. We shall have to create that new habit of recollection of the Soul in all that is, which would enable us to lift the veils and see the Souls. Let this group living lead us to read the Souls, see the Souls, and experience the Souls. When we start experiencing this, we find ourselves in others. We feel: “I am no different from the other”. Then it leads to the understanding that there is no other but a brother. If we can conclude this group living with that understanding, the labours of Hercules are complete.

Experiencing the souls is like experiencing the waves of the Ocean. The Soul is the Ocean, while the souls are the waves. Let us be heroic to experience the Soul through the labours. Hercules did it, and by doing so he did set an example.

To Tune In

The common purpose for which we have all gathered here is to experience the I AM Consciousness. We are all the localized units of the One Consciousness, and we need to find what exactly we are. Each one of us has to dwell deep in his own being where we realize that we are Consciousness localized. We got localized from a Pool of Consciousness, and we belong to that Pool of Consciousness. Eternally we are linked to that Pool of Consciousness. We gather here to see ourselves more clearly. Basically there is an urge in the centre of every seeker, and that urge is to know oneself.

To realize one's own Self one has to go through many labours. We have to clear many concepts, many ideologies, many “isms”, many religions; they are all the ones that we meet on our way. Clearing the bushes we try to reach ourselves.

The whole process is to turn inward. When we turn inward, then the beginning of the Path is marked. The Path is marked when we start looking more and more into our own being. Then it is said: “Now it is the Path”. The more we look into the outer, the more and more we grow distant to our own being, and hence we grow more and more distant to the one Pool of Consciousness.

We gather here to tune in. The purpose of every teaching is to tune in to find the ONE. This is the labour that we conduct, and the labours of Hercules are no different from this. It is the story of the son of man that has transformed into the Son of God. It is the eternal story of man, and it continues to happen as long as there is the Creation. There is a series of happenings where a son of man is transformed into a Son of God. While in the Path he only encounters more and more himself.

The obstructions that we see in the objectivity are only apparent; they are self-made, and by our own self we overcome them by gaining clarity. The story of a Son of God is a good inspiration for us to work better with ourselves. To work with ourselves is what is called the occult practice.

It is not working on others, much less working on the nerves of others. In the name of wisdom we try to work on the nerves of others. We try to brainwash them, to impose our concepts on them, and try to say that this is the only truth and others are not. These things do happen when we get into the outer; but when we start going into the inner chambers, we find that we are a nuisance to ourselves and to others.

“The Path of Return” is what is called the Path of tuning in. We have tuned out enough, and it is now time that we tune in. We keep moving out and out and out, then there is a feeling of tiresomeness, and we feel: “Let's go home”. After moving out, we feel like getting back, having felt the tiresomeness. The urge to come back is the urge of the Soul. If this group living enables us to get deeper into our own being, getting rid of all concepts, then the purpose is well fulfilled. We have gathered here to know ourselves better. In that process we see how we meet ourselves.

How It Is

Around the I AM Consciousness there are many encirclements, many envelopes. There are so many envelopes represented by so many concepts, which shall have to be broken before we stand free as I AM Consciousness. That is what we shall try to comprehend in this class, because all wisdom teaching shall have to orient to the I AM Consciousness, which has many names through many cycles of time. This I AM Consciousness is called the Universal Soul. It has many names in the East and many more names in the West. At best, a scientist of the occult wisdom speaks of that energy as IT or THAT. We shall have to understand how IT IS. When we understand “how we are”, then we understand how IT IS.

Concepts

We are the basis for all the concepts. We live more in the concept than in the understanding that the concept is only a product coming out of us. How are we before we conceive? How are we before we conceive a thought? If this is realized, everything is realized. We are always I engulfed by thoughts and concepts. Each one of us frames his own triangle of thoughts, least realizing that he is the basis for the thought, and that he should realize that he is eternal.

The thoughts are periodical, they have the triangular activity of emerging, growing, and receding. The Consciousness before the thought is like a white paper. Then, as a thought emerges, it emerges around us with us as its centre. Even the thought “I AM” is a localization of the Pool of Consciousness, I AM is also a thought. The moment we think: “I AM”, it is the localization of the Universal Consciousness. It is like the all pervading electricity focusing through a localized point. The moment we wake up and think about ourselves as “I AM”, it is like a point of Light emerging from the Pool of Light. Then, when I think: “I am Kumar”, the first thought around the original thought gathers as a triangle, and there is the programme for the day, which is a series of thoughts emerging from us and merging into us. In so far as we live in thoughts we are in the secondary state of Existence.

When we are in the state of I AM as Consciousness, and no other thought prevails, we are very proximate to the Universal Consciousness. Even that is only nearness to the Universal Consciousness, because the emergence of a centre from the Pool of Consciousness itself is periodical.

We shall have to reach that state of being by shedding all concepts. Till we reach the ultimate state of Existence concepts do help us as supports. We need a boat to cross over a lake, but once we have crossed the lake, we don't need the boat any more. To hold on to the concept, even after the purpose is fulfilled, is like carrying the boat on our head while we walk on the other side of the lake.

There is a process of getting into more and more sublime thoughts by which we get rid of the grosser ones. The ultimate thought that remains with us is I AM. Even that is a thought that makes us localized.

In sleep, where are we? And what is the process of awakening? When do we think about “I AM”? Only after awakening. We are the dawn, and the dawn is nothing but an emergence. As if from nowhere we land through the thought of “I AM”. Then we take to the equipment called the human mechanism. It is like mounting upon a horse or upon a motorcycle. In the olden days they said 'the horse'; now we can say the motorcycle or the motorcar or even the aeroplane, depending on what type of vehicle. There are some vehicles that move in waters, some that move on land, and there are others who fly. All these are vehicles only, but the ones who are mounting the vehicle are more important than the vehicles.

Every time there is a dawn it is the localization of I AM. We get localized, and then we are surrounded by thoughts. Thought is essentially triangular. An idea emerges from us; it has a continuity as development of the thought, it has a periodicity by which it gets concluded, and it gives rise to another thought. So, there is the multiplicity of triangles with us as the basis. If we can realize that we are “I AM”, the basis for all these thoughts, it is like hitting the jackpot. This should happen one day; then we get really excited because we have known ourselves, and all that is entertained thereafter is only a play.

When we know that we are the silver screen, any number of movies can run upon the screen, but the screen, remains clear, transparent, and shining. That is the state of our Original Being, upon which there is the continuous happening of imagery. Our screen is so busy that it always entertains one image or the other. Even a symbol is an image, or if we think of a colour it is an image upon the silverscreen. Even when we think of sound, it is a projection from the silverscreen.

From form to colour, from colour to sound, from sound to our own Being, we need to retrace the path. But the general condition is that we are engulfed by multiplicity of thoughts. We start networking thought after thought. There is a series of thoughts till we get tired in the evening.

The labours that we encounter are the labours relating to the inward journey where we meet one concept after the other. Even these thoughts have their own progeny for further objectivation or externalization, where we get caught up or descend from triangles to pentagrams. There the senses become very active, always trying to look for the sense objects. Almost all the sense objects are of material nature.

Thus we grow heavy, getting into a state of sevenfold existence. From 1 to 3, from 3 to 5, and from 5 to 7, we descend. The process of occult study is to work out from 7 to 5, from 5 to 3, and from 3 to 1.

The Path

Most of us think that we are our body. We see ourselves as our body. There are Initiates who see themselves as Light Both are part of the One Truth.

Each one of us, as we wake up, we are Light. We weave the triangles of thought and awaken the sensations in us. We get externalized for the sense objects, and thus get totally involved in the material world. Having gone into the material world, the phenomena of descent is forgotten, and hence we only get busy in acquiring things, which are material in nature.

From the material world up to our Being there is a thread of Light, which is called The Path. That Path is the Path relating to the phenomenal world.

Many occult students live in the phenomenal world. They always see some things, listen to some things, and are very quick in expressing them out. There are people who see colours, there are people who see subtle forms, and there are people who keep listening things; that is what happens in our being as we meet our psyche; it is new, and hence, exciting. Anything new is exciting to the mind. A new spiritual concept also is exciting in the beginning.

Slowly, as the excitement dies, the concept also dies, unless it is true. When we turn inward we meet the phenomenal world within us. There are many fantasies in that world: the fantasy of colour, the fantasy“ of sound, and the fantasy of form. They are all relating to the triangular activity. Beyond this phenomenal world or downdeep in the phenomenal world we meet the Light, where there are no more concepts or dreams. It is called the Noumenal World.

When we are in the Noumenal World we are the onlooker, and we can see the phenomenon. We can see how the phenomenon is producing the material and absorbing itself into itself.

There is one who looks from above; he is the one who is called the Noumenon. He stands aside from all that is happening and keeps looking at it. He is in IT and he is also not in IT. It is a difficult situation to understand, but it is also easy if only we give an example.

If we observe the author of a book, he is in the book and he is also not there in the book. That is why, when we try to pick up a book we see who the author is: “Oh, it is Khalil Gibran! I must buy this book”. We do not find Khalil Gibran on the pages of the book. He speaks of many characters. In those characters we meet Khalil Gibran, and yet we have not met Khalil Gibran. Likewise with every author. From out of the author the theme comes out. From out of the author the characters, the sceneries and the interactions between the characters come out. All the characters act within a periodicity, called the book. The whole thing has come out of the author. He has put it on paper, and yet he remained outside. Similar is the case with a poet. The poetry is delivered and he is also delivered. You know, when there is the impregnation of poetry in one's own being, there is a discomfort till it is produced out. When the poetry flows out, the poet is free. When the painting flows out, the painter is free. When the baby moves out, the impregnated woman is free. If you are a lady you can easily understand what is the relief when the baby is delivered out. For that reason every man has to be a woman one time or the other.

The Game Of Thoughts

Basically we are all ladies. We have other impregnations; they are the impregnations of thoughts. One thought can make us very heavy till we are delivered out of it, and it is delivered out of us. Till that thought is delivered out we spend sleepless nights. When a young boy sees a beautiful young lady, it gives rise to a thought. The thought is that he should make friendship with her, and somehow develop association with her, and if possible live with her. See how much he gets engrossed and gets anxious, till that thought is completed. The thought is enchanting till he starts living with the lady, but once he starts, it is disenchanting. This is the common story of - man and woman, till they are together, it is very enchanting, thereafter, it is disenchanting.

We think that we are holding the thoughts, but the truth is the thoughts are holding us. Thought after thought, they hold us. We are continuously prisoners of our thoughts. We entertain a thought, and then the thought entertains us. The whole game is a game of thoughts. If we realize that it is only a game, we can entertain them with a smile, and then we are the master of them. But if we forget that it is a game, the game starts playing with us. We take the football as the plaything. When the player forgets that it is a game, the ball conditions the player. That is how, even in games, people get conditioned when , they think of winning.

A Noumenon is one who entertains the thoughts dispassionately and enjoys them. He remains an observer of the thoughts that keep springing from him. He sees the play of thoughts that is happening. In that game he experiences the splendour of the play of the thoughts, because he is standing aside the thoughts. He is free from the thought and yet handles the thought. He never allows the thought to handle him. The whole course is who is handling whom.

Many people think that they are handling money, but mostly money handles them. Many people think that they wield power, but power wields them. Many people think that they are having control or possession over people, but the truth is, people possess them as precious things and make a thorough use of them. We see many who suffer from being gurus. The Guru thinks that he is holding the disciples; he is in the glamour of being a Guru, and the disciples happily use him left and right. He lives in terms of the opinions of those who, he thinks, are following him. The game of the Guru and the disciple is also a game of thought.

If we are stuck in one game, we are stuck for life. Let nothing stick up to you! We remain clean like the silver screen, we keep playing, and keep remaining clean. At the end of the day we should remain a silver screen, and nothing should be carried within ourselves as a concept.

The Play of Roles

It is like being a football player in the playground. Within the ground we are a player; outside the ground we are not. We cannot make football movement outside the football ground. Or if we are playing in a drama, we are given certain dialogues and certain movements. We conduct them on the stage, and at the end of the drama we get back to our own being. The one who plays Hercules in a movie cannot behave like Hercules outside the movie.

So is the case with us. As we get into the playground in the morning, we play many roles. Every man plays the role of a husband, which is fairly a difficult role, and likewise, every lady plays the role of a wife. It's only a role; he is not husband, and she is not wife. It is a

limited relationship between two beings. A man cannot be a husband for more than one lady, if he wishes to play the role well. There is no such thing that a man is generally a husband or that a lady is generally a wife. This is a very, very, very limited relationship and a very small role. Since we do not know how to play it, we make it big.

We also play the role of parents, we play the role of children to our parents, we play the role of friends to friends, boss to subordinates, and subordinate to boss. See, how many roles we are playing on the ground! But at the end of the day nothing remains. Only we remain to ourselves. That is our reality.

All that we play throughout the day has its own splendour and experience. Every limited relationship gives an unlimited experience, like mal1 to man as brother, man to lady as husband, man to parents as child. We are given so many roles to play in the game. One should remember that they are only roles, but once out of the playground they mean nothing. In the playground we cannot say that they mean nothing. There are many impractical philosophers who break the rules of the game while within the playground.

Just like every game has its own rules and regulations, the game of Nature has its own rules and regulations. When we are in the game we have to play according to the rules. It is all a play, and beyond it we are eternally living. That is the understanding of the one who is an onlooker.

When we observe the author of a book, see how intricately he weaves the story. There is crisis in the story, there is the height of conflict between the characters, and a big war is fought between two groups. The author goes through all that, but at the end of the story he is released. He will get into another book and will not brood over the book that has already been written, as every day is a good chapter to live through. The author lives through the book unaffected by the stories he writes. If he writes a tragedy, people who read the book may become tragic, but the author remains unaffected by it. Normally no author is affected by his book.

We are all authors of our own books. But the difference is we are affected by our own writings, we are affected by our own actions, we are affected by the events of our own story. But at the noumenal state there is no such condition. We shall have to remain through and through as the localized Consciousness to work out the play of the day or the play of life.

A Ray of The Sun

I often keep saying that we have all come on to this planet as visitors. When we came, we came like the rays of the sun. The visitor, if he is sensible, will not stay in the spot that he has chosen for picnic. The picnic's spot is a temporary abode for the splendour of it, for the beauty of it, for the experience of it. We cannot pick up labels and stick them on our head having come for a picnic. We cannot start believing that which we are not. That is how we started believing having landed for a picnic.

We have the stickers relating to our names, the stickers relating to our nations, the stickers relating to our languages, and the stickers relating to our own “isms”. We are stuck here with the stickers. The purpose of occult study is to remove sticker after sticker and realize ourselves as sun rays. It is a process of self-chiselling to find the beauty of our own Being.

That is where even the phenomenal world shall have to be transcended. In the phenomenal world we meet angels, and we will also meet the archangels, but if we go further we meet ourselves. When we have met ourselves, even the angels and archangels are subordinate to us. That is where it is said that the angels and archangels co-operate with a Master, because a Master is one who has known his own identity. He has touched the state of clear sky where there are no clouds. He can see through the clouds of the phenomena.

This clarity is very important for the occult study: “to know that we are the Soul, that we descend every day into the concept, into the senses, and into the objectivity for the pleasure of it, for the splendour of it, and for the sheer experience of it”, and that is all there is to it.

The Sun of God

Hercules is a story which makes us understand the steps for the transformation. The 12 labours of Hercules is the story of a solar year with 12 months. The 12 labours can be experienced through the 12 solar months of the year. We have passed through many summers without experiencing the solar God. The labours relating to Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer etc. are the 12 qualities that have to be worked out in us to find ourselves as the solar angels.

It takes 12 months or 12 years or 12 lives to experience it. It took 12 years to Hercules. He realized the importance of the solar year of 12 months even in his 18th year. He started working in the occult path under the guidance of a Teacher who was instructed by Jupiter. Hercules found himself in a 12 years' cycle through the 12 labours.

These labours seem to be very difficult and very heavy; that is why we developed the idiom of 'Herculean task', but it is not difficult when we have the right orientation. In every story of a son of man we find similar situations. When we go through the story of a son of man who transformed into a son of God, we get inspired.

When the son of man works out the 12 labours, he gradually transforms himself into the son of God. The transformation is gradual, but not sudden. For those who live with him, his conduct is an inspiration to follow. The story of the son of God is an inspiration for those who are around him. That enables them also to pick up the Path and work with it.

Inspiration Versus Emotion

Every time there is the story of a son of man working out the Path we find two varieties of people gathering around him. One variety gets inspired and also picks up the threads to function. Those are the ones who are said to tread the Path.

The second variety, their inspiration coupled with emotion, makes them worshippers of the son of man and the son of God. Slowly, as the emotions die out, they also get into the Path, but in the meanwhile the second category of the contemporaries founds a religion upon him.

Every religion we know is founded upon the life work of a son of God. They project the son of God as “The God”, trying to propagate him as such, and gradually it crystallises into a religion.

Every time there is a man walking upon Earth transforming himself into a sun ray, his life definitely leaves an inspiration around. There are the two varieties who keep getting this inspiration. Some are inspired to work like him, others are inspired to worship him. The first ones follow the Path, the second ones also follow the Path, but after a cycle of time. Out of the second, the religions are given birth.

Associating with the Energy

The functioning of the energy in its full capacity through a form is what is seen by a true occultist. He is more associated with the energy that is functioning through a form than to the form. The energy makes itself familiar to the people around. If we grow familiar to the energy instead of the form, it helps us to function in the same way. But if the identity is with the form we become lazy onlookers for the same form to come and deliver us, looking into the sky for the return of the form.

It is like looking for the same wave of the Ocean that we saw yesterday. Every wave brings us the same Ocean, and every son of God brings us the same energy. But if you are stuck with the form of a particular wave that came some time ago, we keep waiting and waiting and waiting. In the meanwhile many waves have come and gone. The best way is to associate in an occult fashion with the energy than with the normal fashion vis a vis the form.

Our altar is also a demonstration of this fact, that the Energy visited in many forms. Today we call it Energy, in yesteryears it was called Christ. In the years before yesteryears we called him Parabrahman. All are names; many names are given to God. We not only name ourselves, but we also name God!

It is arising out of our habit. We have to name everything, otherwise we do not know how to function, but the Truth remains nameless and formless. Since we live in the world of forms and in the world of names, we want to name every form. It is not necessary that we should do so, but it is a strong habit with us.

If a son of God visits, in the East they try to see in him Krishna or Rama. Trying to see Krishna or Rama is from their own viewpoint. The one who is trying to see Krishna in a son of God has least understanding of Krishna. This is because he did not live when Krishna lived. How can he recognise whether a son of God is Krishna or Rama?

We are trying to recognise someone whom we do not know in someone whom we know!

See, how we turn things upside down. We know someone today and in him we can feel the Love, in him we can feel the Light, we can feel the Will, but we do not want to see that and try to see that which we do not know in him. Don't we see people in the West trying to see Christ among the sons of God? It is very funny that even the so-called occult students run to London, to the Himalayas or the Alps to find the Christ.

Suppose that we encounter the Christ, how do we recognize Him? We didn't have any previous experiences and encounters with Him; how can we decide about the Christ whom we have not seen before?

I am just posing a challenge to your intellect. Is it not paradoxical that we are trying to recognize someone whom we did not see before? Do you know why we land in this difficulty? It is because we are sheerly stuck to the name and the form. Even if Christ is present and calls himself as Peter, we cannot recognize Him. When we have not seen a person before and are trying to see him among the persons present now, we are working out a very idiotic exercise. Please, do not do it ever! We have no way to see that way. But if we have experienced the energy of Christ, we can experience the same energy, even if it is in a different form.

Christ is like the Light. Through a flashlight or some other light, we can see the light, but not the form in which it is presented to us. Light is presented to us through variety of forms. Are we not able to realize the Light regardless the form? Can I say that this is not Light, because I have never seen that form in India? If I say that this is not Light, I do not have to tell you what kind of man I am.

Such is our state when we are conditioned by form. We call ourselves occult students, but we refuse to go beyond the form. What kind of occultism is it? What exactly is the meaning of occultism? Occult means 'that which is hidden, that which is veiled by the form'. An occultist is one who can see beyond or behind the form. If we only see and recognize forms and we do not see the energy functioning through the form, we meet with our own stalemate. That is how we have landed ourselves with names and forms.

Let us respect names and forms and walk beyond that. We don't have to disrespect names and forms when we are orienting towards the Energy, because the Energy is presented to us only through form and through name. There are some who are stuck to name and form, and there are others who are biased to the nameless and formless Energy. Their bias in the nameless and formless Energy disables them to see the Energy in the form and in the name. Name and form have their own fitness in Creation. Their facility has to be understood, but they should not be taken as the sum and the essence of all.

The nameless and formless Energy functions through name and form, and to experience it we have to see the fitness of the two. These are the occult facts which we have to assimilate in our own Being and start seeing the Energy patterns functioning through the forms. Then and only then we can call ourselves as occult students. That is exactly what was taught to Hercules and with this as our background we shall walk into the story of Hercules, which is a process of retracing ourselves to our own origin.

Harikulesa

We take Hercules as a son of man transformed into a son of God. Don't believe that he is Greek. If we take him as Greek, we have faltered in the very first step. We can also take it that he is a personage from the Greek mythology.

These are some very important points which should get into our own being much more than the wisdom, because wisdom is hidden in these aspects. Hercules was called so not by the Greeks, but by the Romans. Hercules is the Roman version of his name. There is the Greek version as Herakles, and there is also a Sanskrit version, called Harikulesa. Harikulesa is a title. It is a title for the one who follows the Path. In the Eastern mythology the Universal Consciousness is called Hari, or the Indwelling God of all that IS. The God in Creation is called Hari, and the God beyond Creation is called Hara.

Thus, there is one beyond Creation and there is one in Creation. But it is the only ONE who is in IT and out; of IT. When HE is in the playground or Creation, he is called Hari; that means, the static energy becoming dynamic: The whole Creation is worked out with HIM as the basis.

Please remember, Hari is also a name, just like we now call it Universal Consciousness, or the Universal Soul, or the Indwelling Being, the basis of all that IS. Whoever tries to realize HIM through his own Being is called Harikulesa, 'the one who follows the Path to reach Hari or the Christ Consciousness'. It is like experiencing the Cosmic Christ, according to the Western terminology.

We have too much terminology, and that is our problem. We are trying to work out a common terminology now. If we say Hari or Vishnu, it is acceptable in the Indian continent; if we say Cosmic Christ Consciousness, it is acceptable in the Western hemisphere, but there are people who can accept it without these two names, and there are others who can accept it with the names and without the names. We should have no objection if names are given. We should also have no objection when no names are given. That is synthesis.

Harikulesa is one whom today we call as “world disciple”; that means, he is an example that can be followed by the world. The other name in the East for Harikulesa is Bhagavata, meaning “the one who has experienced the ONE in all, around and within”. Names and forms aside, if we can experience the One Energy functioning within one's own Being and around, and also experience the patterns in which it keeps manifesting through periodicities. When we get to the know-how of the whole Creation, that means we have known how “IT IS”, then we are said to tread the Path.

The Fixed Cross

The one who treads the Path of Hari is called the one who has mounted upon the Fixed Cross. We know the Fixed Cross thanks to the book “Esoteric Astrology”, but even before Master Djwhal Khul gave out “Esoteric Astrology”, the Fixed Cross existed. From times immemorial man has been mounting upon the Fixed Cross to tread the Path of discipleship.

This Fixed Cross in the Vedic astrology is called “Hari Patha”. Patha means “Path” in Sanskrit, and Hari Patha means “the Path to the Cosmic Consciousness”.

Astrology holds “the key” to the occult path. In the ancient times, the astrologers of the Vedic time called the Fixed Cross as Hari Patha. The one who mounts upon the Fixed Cross is called Harikulesa. Hercules, as we know, has mounted upon that cross. Every son of man, as he transformed into a son of God, necessarily mounted upon this cross. The Mutable Cross is the cross relating to the life of duality. The Fixed Cross is the cross relating to the life of a disciple or an occult student.

The one who works upon this cross is the one who has decided to work with himself. He is unconcerned about others' faults and vices. He does not indulge in talks about others. He is always concerned about the work he has at his disposal. That is why Hercules says: “My hands speak; I do not speak”. He is more in action than in thought. The more we are in thought, the less we are in action. The more we are a thinker, the less we are a worker.

Hercules says: “My hands speak; I do not speak”, meaning, my actions speak, I don't have to speak. Hercules has taken to the Fixed Cross to experience the Cosmic Consciousness, hence he is called as Harikulesa.

Likewise we have the name of Alexander as Alok Chandra. Alexander the Great is well respected in the East. Chandra stands for moon in Sanskrit, meaning that he is “the light of the moon beyond this world”. That is how he is respected.

Through time the sounds of the words get gradually distorted and differentiated. When we carry the key of etymology, one of the important keys to wisdom, we will be able to find some of these links.

The Son Of God

This is the beginning of the story of a man who chose to walk upon the Path. As he walks upon the Path, like every son of man, he encounters himself in each labour. He successfully conducts them under the subtle guidance of the Teacher.

We shall have a bird's eyeview of his life. The important events in his life also show their spiritual significance. It is said that he is a son of man, yet son of God. We too, we are no less than that. We are all sons of men, but yet sons of God. Everyone of us is a son of God and yet a son of man. There is nothing extraordinary about Hercules. In the beginning he was also like us; but he has worked with himself and transformed. That is how we see the life of every Initiate.

We are also sons of God, but we have chosen to be sons of man. It is by choice we have remained as sons of men. We also have the other possibility. That is what is to be experienced.

The Twin

We are simultaneously son of God and son of man. That is why it is said that Hercules had a twin brother. We also have our twin. In fact, the twin is more active than ourselves.

In Hercules case, even in his infancy he has killed the twin, but, in contrast to our case, our twin says: “Look here, you just remain, otherwise I will have to take care of you”, and we are silent. The twin is active in us, while in Hercules, even from the infancy, he is active, and the twin is silent, which is symbolically expressed by having killed his twin.

It looks as if Hercules was a very cruel man. After all, why should we read his story when he is such a cruel fellow? All the ladies should protest against this seminar, because Hercules has killed his wife and children. In the name of world discipleship, if every man tries to kill his wife and children, what will happen? Even before we kill, we are killed. The stories are always symbolical. Unless we know the symbolism, we will make ourselves a fool out of it.

Thus, Hercules had a twin brother and we also have our twin brother, the personality. Our friends have kept a poster at the entrance: “Leave your personality and enter the prayer hall”; so we meet in this hall as Souls and experience the Soul Consciousness through the study of the story of Hercules.

We are persons and our personalities are our twins whom we have to kill! Meaning, we have to overcome our personality and function as Soul, mounting on the personality. The personality should tune in to the Soul and oblige the Soul, but not vice-versa. The personality consists of the behavioural patterns exhibited by the mind and senses, which need to be regulated to work in co-operation with the person.

It is said that as Hercules was born, he was born with a twin. This is the first aspect, which is also the case with us. There is what is called the soli-lunar aspect forming the human body: the lunar aspect developing the body and the solar aspect residing therein. There are two parts which are intertwined in a human constitution. One relates to the body, the other relates to the indweller. That is why every human being is essentially double natured or twin natured.

As Soul we come down with the three powers of the Soul, which function in us as Love, Light, and Will. These are the aspects of the Soul, which we are. For the Soul. to express through, the body is prepared through the lunar energy. We are the solar angel with the three qualities. We have a body, which also has a triple aspect in it, and which is developed through the lunar energy. The triple aspect of the body is the mind, the senses, and the physical body that we see. The Soul functions through this triple body by reflection. Thus, there is the solar principle, which functions through reflection. Thus man as a whole is two in one.

The Solar Angel weaves the body and lives in it. -That is why the Solar Angel is named as the weaver. The term for weaver in Sanskrit is Vivasvata. Then we have the product coming out of it as the mind of the Soul as Vaivasvata. Essentially we are intertwined as a soli-lunar energy system. That is why in our lives we are inclined sometimes towards the spirit and sometimes towards the matter. There are the requirements of the triple body, consisting of mind, senses, and the physical body, which is called the twin of the Solar Angel or the son of God. That means, the Soul aspect in everyone of us relates to the son of God or Hercules.

The mind, the senses, and the physical body that are developed, are referred to as the twin. Thus, the human body is two in one intertwined and inextricably linked. That is the twin nature that works out the duality in us.

Essentially the solar aspect, which is the Indweller, intends expressing itself through the vehicle, that is, the lunar aspect. But the lunar aspect has its own programme. It is the body that demands its own requirements. It is busy working out to acquire sense objects to satiate the senses. So it has its own programme and it does not allow the Soul to conduct its programme through the vehicle.

In the case of an ordinary human being it is the lunar aspect that is predominant. He sees the mind as the ultimate of things with him and around him. He would not like to accept anything beyond mind. Only mind, senses, and body are reality. That means, he grows more and more aware and active in relation to the lunar aspect of his own being. The whole life is dedicated to the demands of the body. The Indweller has not been given scope to express through. It is the vehicle that decides the fate of the owner. There is no such thing as steering the vehicle by the driver. There is no such thing as the man riding over the vehicle, called the animal. The vehicle conditions the rider. The rider, instead of mounting on the horse, is stuck in the horse. The horse conditions the rider. That is what is symbolically expressed as the state of a centaur. The anterior portion is man and the posterior portion is horse. The posterior portion decides the fate of the anterior portion.

When our lower portion is very heavy we cannot decide what to do with our higher portion. The diaphragm is the demarcating point. If we live below the diaphragm, it means we are living more for the lunar objectives. When' we live above the diaphragm, it means that we are able to mount over the lunar aspect and conduct.

Mostly people live below the diaphragm, satiating their own desires, running after the sense objects, and nourishing the body all the time, nourishing their own thoughts, nourishing their own concepts, and nourishing their own senses. That is all the programme that one has, when the twin, the animal, is powerful. We call such a man an indulgent one. It is an animal indulgence, glorified with many terms and concepts, as they have their own philosophy.

In the case of Hercules, he has put down the twin, even in the very initial years of his life. That means, the wild horse which the body is, is well tamed and made subservient to the purposes of the Soul. That is how it is said symbolically that Hercules killed his twin. He subdued and tamed the mind, the senses, and the body to suit the purposes of the Soul.

The purpose is well worked out with the body as the media. Each one of us has a purpose as we descend. Astrology holds the key to ascertain such purpose. Each one of us can gauge the purpose of life through our birth ascendant. In so far as the body is well tamed and well cultivated, it enables the Soul to work out the programme.

In our case also, the same twin aspect remains. The need to work out the twin, so that he follows us as our shadow, is a very important aspect, which is covered by the first three steps of Patanjali Yoga. The three steps would enable the taming of the physical, the emotional, and the mental bodies. We cannot aspire for the functioning of the Light unless these three bodies are well tamed and co-ordinated. This is one aspect that is very well depicted in the story of Hercules.

Widow’s Son

There is another aspect, which is also true in the case of almost every Initiate. As the Initiate is born the father dies, or the father disappears, or there is no role for the father to play. This fact we can observe in the life of almost every Initiate. Either the father is unknown, or is dead, or disappears from the scene, or he plays a very, very dormant role. The life of an Initiate at the very beginning is that of a widow's son.

He is more aware of the mother than of the father. This is also very symbolical and we find it in the story of Ramayana and Mahabharata, of Moses and of Jesus. Name any Initiate, you find it.

In the beginning we start as widow's children, which is an aspect very well recognized by masonry. As we enter the portals of the Temple of Wisdom we only know the mother, but we do not know the father. This means that we know the lunar aspect of our being, but we do not know the solar aspect of our being. The Father is unknown, and the whole work or life story runs to find the Father, to find the Father as our own Self, to realize that “the Father and I are one and the same”.

When Hercules was asked who his father was, he said: “I know my mother; I do not know my father”. That is the case with everyone as he starts upon the path of self-realization. There is a Sanskrit occult statement that says: “Verily, the father is born as son, and the son is verily the representative of the father or the replica of the father.”

When we have known ourselves we have known the Father. When we have not known ourselves we have not known the Father. That is how the Father has no role in the beginning of the story of every son of God, because the whole theme is to find HIM as no other than our own Self. Hence, the second aspect we find in the story of Hercules is that he did not know the father.

When one knows himself, he knows himself as the wave and the Father as the Ocean. The Father (Ocean) and the son (the wave) are not different in content, but are different in state. The wave is a state of the ocean -while the ocean is its eternal state. That which is eternal, when it manifests itself, the latter is called the son, while the former is known as the Father. Man knows himself initially by his given name, his physical form, his desires and his aspirations. This is his female side, the Mother side. As he traces towards the Source of his being, he finds the Father; until such time he is the widow's son.

The Two Serpents

Then there is a third event in Hercules life, while he and his twin are in the cradle. There are two serpents approaching the cradle from either side. The twin is afraid and bawls out and cries. He finds himself incapable of handling the two serpents, while Hercules handles them very effectively.

The two serpents represent the two energies present in us as the right and the left energies. Our own energy has its triple with us as the central column. We have the right energies and the left energies, called Pingala and Ida. Ida is the left energy, Pingala is the right energy, and we are the central column as Sushumna.

When we are in awareness as ourselves (as Soul), we are able to handle the two energies effectively. The energies of the left represent the energies of material, and the energies of the right represent the energies of the spirit. As Soul we are the son that handles the Mother and the Father effectively. When we are not in that Soul awareness, we cannot handle them effectively. With the mind we cannot handle them because mind is a product arising out of the triple action of these energies, but we can handle them with wisdom.

The twin, whose highest aspect is the mind, was found incapable of even looking at the two serpents, while Hercules, that is, the Soul, had been able to effectively handle the two serpents in a very playful fashion. Those of you who have gone through the books of Yoga clearly see the Ida and Pingala energies depicted as the intertwined ,. serpents, in the middle of which we exist.

Even in the early stages of life Hercules I demonstrated that he is essentially predominant in the Soul aspect than in the body aspect.

Education

Then Hercules gets into education. It is said that Hercules paid deaf ears to his teachers. He even killed his teachers! Normally the education that is given by the teachers is the education of the objectivity. This is the case with every being. We are educated as to how to use the hands, the legs, and the five senses etc. Most of the education that we receive is the education relating to the objective side of the being, which serves a limited purpose, to function well in the objectivity. But there is nothing that is given or taught about subjectivity in the education that we have. It is only in the Ashrams or in the families of the Initiates that the two sides of education are given.

The subjective side of the being is not taught from childhood. So man only knows how to get into objectivity and gather things around him. He is only shown one side -of the coin and not the other side.

The mind has two faces, one is objective, the other is subjective. Only the ascending phases of the moon are taught, but not the descending phases of the moon. Only full moon is shown, and that there is also a new moon is not taught. Only sight is given and no wisdom is given. Sight without wisdom will not make a complete understanding.

Thus, only one aspect of life is taught, but if one is working out on the Path of Initiation, he is not so much interested to pursue such studies endlessly. He sees the importance of the education relating to objectivity, but he also clearly sees its' limitations. So he continues only up to a point and turns away from it to learn about subjectivity.

Hercules paid a deaf ear to the teachers, having listened to them. The education relating to objectivity is educating the mind, the senses and the body, and it does not provide anything relating to the subjective aspect of the being. It does not speak of the man in his entirety, and only 50% of the man is taught. The lunar aspect or animal aspect is well taught, but the more subtle and more sublime aspect of man is not taught.

Today we are all in a state where we remain as widow's children. This is because from childhood the subjective side is not taught, and it was the case even in those days. The story of man is eternally the same.

Hence, Hercules puts aside all those teachers, which is symbolically said as: “he killed the teachers”, and felt that there is no point in continuing with this kind of teachers all the time. This is one more aspect we find in the early stages of his life.

Marrige

As Hercules grows, he marries a lady and begets three children, but even before he marries that lady he kills a lion that is making noise in the village. This lion was a nuisance in the villages. Hercules killed him and gained the hand of a beautiful princess.

Whenever we come across a lion in any Scripture we should immediately turn to the sign Leo. Every Initiate invariably kills a lion in his life. Samson also killed a lion. We find the “lion-killing” as an important hobby of an Initiate. In the story of an Initiate we get cobras, lions, elephants, horses, and also fruits of ambrosia, which are called apples in the West. They are all symbolic, and their roots are in the Vedic symbolism.

Hercules is a special hero who killed the lion twice. He kills one lion to gain the hand of the lady, and he kills yet another lion when he labours under the guidance of his Teacher.

Now we are concerned with the preliminary lion. This lion is the one that would like to rule over others. It is a leonine aspect, which would like to lead, guide, protect and rule people. The grip of the lion is very strong; it holds very strong those who come under its grip. The baser side of Leo makes a man to hold people under his grip. It also speaks of a sense of aggression and expansion, and a sense of achievement. These are all impediments to experience the sense of Being. A man who is caught by the sense of achievement is always tense; he is charged by the energy of dynamism, and only one word remains in his mind: “conquer”.

A lion does not allow another ruler within his own jurisdiction, and cannot sleep when there is another one within it. It should be very clear to him that he is the ruler. That is how those who are charged by the baser energies of Leo keep conquering and possessing.

It is the quality of domination that Hercules conquers. He has no more enchantment in aggression, in conquering, and in achieving. That means, he is slowly substituting the sense of achievement with the sense of Being. The path of self-realization becomes possible and becomes progressive also when we turn towards the sense of Being than to the sense of achievement. Achievement speaks of the Rajasic qualities. We would like to spread as personality and care more for name and fame. Hercules has put down these instincts in his being.

These are all the preliminary qualities required for us to meet the right Teacher, Jupiter. If we wish to meet Jupiter we should substitute the sense of achievement by the sense of Being.

Thus, Hercules conquers the lion and gains the lady, which is a beautiful princess. The lady in every being is represented by his own behavioural nature, which has the mental, emotional, and physical requirements as its products. Hercules lived with the lady, and was able to beget the three children, representing the fruition of the mental, emotional, and physical aspects in him. It has become easy for him, because, even from the initial stages, the Soul aspect is predominant.

Normally a man marries and becomes subservient to the requirements of the lady and the children; his subservience, nevertheless, does not have its cause in the wife and the children, but it only speaks of his behavioural predominance. Even in this aspect Hercules has been able to work it out well, as the lady and the children have become subservient to him. They exist more as shadows, but not as realities. That means, he has gained a perfect way of expressing himself out through these three aspects of the body. He has gained the step to permeate into the mind, the senses, and the body as Soul. The Soul permeation is the beginning. That also means that the personality is getting infused by the Soul more and more.

At this stage, it is said that Hercules killed the wife and the three children, what means that he is able to synthesize that the body is also an aspect of the Soul, and that matter is an offspring of the Spirit. He need not negate it, but he can function through. He substitutes every aspect with the Soul aspect.

For an Initiate every unit is seen as an aspect of the soul. He ceases to see wife and children in other units of Consciousness. To him they are equally divine. The idea or the concept of wife and children dies in him, and only one concept remains: to experience or to observe the Soul in all forms. The observation of the Soul in all forms is the step one has to reach to meet the real Teacher in his Own Being.

The story goes on, and it is said that, since Hercules killed his wife and children, the people were looking at him as a madcap. This is also an aspect in an Initiate's life, that he is looked at as a queer person by the contemporary society. His ways of understanding are different from the average human being, and he is looked at as a person who is strange, a person who is uncommon among the common. He is not considered normal by the society. He is the normal one and others are subnormal, but they look at him as the abnormal one. That is how it is!

The brothers of Jesus told him many times: “Why do you indulge in all this? Why don't you live like all of us?” Many rationalistic beings tried to reason out and put Jesus back to normal life, but since he was really normal and he saw others as subnormal, he remained silent.

At this point of life Hercules was considered to -..be a mad man, because his approach through the mind, through the senses, and through the body is different from the approach of others. His purposes were distinctly different from that of others, and they could not see why it was so.

Most of you must have read the book “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”, written by Richard Bach. In the story, all the seagulls on the seashore think that they live to eat, while the seagull Jonathan thinks that he lives to fly and need not, engage or engross himself so much in eating. To all his folk eating was the main programme: “living to eat”; that is, living for the purposes of nourishing the body. That was not the purpose of Jonathan!

The other seagulls try to reason out with him: “Why do you fly so much? Why don't you eat like all of us?” and Jonathan replays: “When you experience the beauty of flying you don't get so much engrossed in eating”; but the others do not understand, because they live to the body, while Jonathan lives to the Soul. Such is the case with every Initiate! An Initiate appears as the odd one out of the society, and many times he is excommunicated because of his queer attitudes. Such was the situation of Hercules.

A Friend On The Path

Hercules had a friend, an Initiate, called Theseus, who was the ruler of Athens. He drew Hercules nearer to him because he understood his state of evolution.

When we stand alone in Light we have our friends gathering around us, who are already in Light. The requirement is to have the courage to stand alone in Light, not seeking any external support, but only seeking support of the Light within. Then the Enlightened Ones come to us, giving us some soothening treatment.

Theseus is considered to be the greatest of the Greek heroes. He drew Hercules nearer to him, but Hercules was still not a complete son of God, and he, therefore, pursued his path of self-realization. Determined as he was, Hercules went to Delphi to find out what exactly should his programme be.

Even till date Delphi is a real serene, sublime, and sacred place; it is a place charged with spiritual energy. Hercules went to Delphi and sought guidance through an oracle from the priestess. The priestess used to manifest upon a tripod and give out oracles. When Hercules invoked the priestess, she did not manifest, but his fiery aspiration continued, and he said to the space around: “If you do not guide me, I shall take to this tripod and guide people hereafter”.

Realizing the determination of the Initiate, the oracle was heard from the priestess, and then the angel said: “You are now fit to be guided by Jupiter. It is by the will of Jupiter you shall ascend upon the Path of discipleship, and you are therefore required to direct yourself to the Teacher called Eurystheus. Labour with him for twelve years, and depending upon the accomplishment of the labours that are entrusted to you, you shall realize your own Being”.

Eighteen

That is how Hercules was lead to the Teacher. By the time he reached the Teacher, it is said that he had passed 18 summers. This is also very symbolic. Many times I have spoken to you about the importance of number 18. It is said that a man has come up to the 18th year when he is ready to sacrifice himself.

There is a word called Yaja, which is the sound key to number 18. We find these two sounds YA and JA in all sacred names. Yaja stands for sacrifice; it is a process of sacrificing ourselves, it is not sacrificing what we have, it is not giving some donations or some contributions, but it is contributing ourselves, and that is called “Man Sacrifice”. We shall have to sacrifice ourselves upon the Fixed Cross, and everything unnecessary around is chiselled off.

That was the state to which Hercules was ready to get into. He was willing to burn himself in pursue of Truth. We pursue Truth when, we are on vacations and when we do not have other things to do. For a common man pursuing Truth is a hobby, but for a fiery aspirant pursuing Truth is everything. Even he himself is secondary to Truth. He is willing to submit himself to any kind of sacrifice to realize the Truth. That is the point at which we are picked up. Till that time we may fashion that we are being guided by the Masters, but the inclination to sacrifice ourselves is what is looked at by the Master. Number 18 stands for such a situation where we are willing to sacrifice ourselves.

When we conduct YAJA or sacrifice, the fruit of it is called JAYA, that is, 'fulfilment'. Jaya is the original name of Mahabharata. The Mahabharata war was conducted for 18 days; 18 great warriors and 18 squadrons of the army participated in it. The very epic of Mahabharata is written in 18 chapters, the Bhagavad Gita is also composed in 18 chapters, and the Puranas of the East are also 18 in number.

To say so is symbolic, because 18 are the imperceptible secrets of the perceptible Universe. That which is perceptible to us is the product of 18 principles. ” It is also said that one fourth is perceptible and three fourths are imperceptible. One fourth is mortal and three fourths are immortal and divine. From the mortal to the immortal side man has turned himself.

When it is said that Hercules is 18 years old, it means two things: that he is totally inclined to make headway into the imperceptible secrets of the perceptible Universe, and in that effort he is fully willing to sacrifice himself. That is why, when Hercules met his Teacher and when the Teacher enquired of his age, he said: “I am of 18 summers”.

In the drama “The Magic Flute” there is a character called Papagena. She is considered to be of 81 years. In the beginning of the drama it is said that she is an old lady of 81 years, but in truth she is of 18 years, because the two terms 'Yaja' and 'Jaya' are interchangeable. Sacrifice leads to fulfilment and fulfilment leads to further sacrifice; 18 turns into 81 and 81 turns into 18. It is only the change of direction that makes 18 to 81 and 81 to 18. Only when the disciple is of 18 years of age, and he is willing to sacrifice himself in pursuit of the Truth, he meets the Teacher. That is how Hercules met his Teacher, and then the angels blessed him.

Yoked And Equipped

It is said that Hercules was very strong of body and weak of mind. It is also said that he was bull-necked, meaning, he started with the energy of Taurus, which is the case with the Fixed Cross.

As we mount upon the Fixed Cross, we are now fixed upon our goal and there is no wavering. Hence the journey starts from Taurus and reaches Scorpio. The aspirant becomes a disciple, and Scorpio ascends into the energies of Leo, where the disciple realizes himself as Soul. He further ascends from Leo to Aquarius, where he realizes the Universal Soul.

The steps are from the Light of Aspiration to the Light of Discipleship, then from the Light of Discipleship to the Light of the Soul, and from the Light of the Soul to the Light of the Universal Soul.

This is the cross which Hercules picked up. When we are on such a sublime task, we are aided by the angels. Minerva bestowed a robe to him. This is all, because he was already accepted by the Guru or Jupiter. Mercury presented him with a very sharp sword, Neptune presented him with two agile, alert, and brilliant horses, Vulcan gave him a golden breast plate, and he himself prepared a club by his own intelligence. This is also very symbolic and happens to every disciple in the presence of the Master.

The presence of the Master enables and affords synthesis. When we are in the mood to include all, we are in synthesis; that means, we are in the presence of the Master. If there is something in us which tends to exclude something, it means, we are not in the presence of the Master. That is how synthesis is understood. If there are within our own being some reservations about certain things, persons, places, or about certain names or forms, we are not in synthesis; that means, we are not in the presence of the Master. All names, all forms, all persons, all places, all situations - they are all within the Universal Consciousness. There is nothing outside the Universal Consciousness. What is acceptable to the Universal Consciousness cannot be non-acceptable to the units of Consciousness, if we wish to grow into synthesis.

Synthesis is a state of awareness where the fitness of everything in Creation is understood. The fitness of that which we call good and bad is also understood. The role of evil and its importance are very well understood. The role of a war, the fitness of an earthquake, and the fitness of a volcanic eruption are understood. All that is happening within the space globe is filled with the Universal Consciousness. When it is acceptable to the Universal Consciousness, why should it not be acceptable to us?

If we have within our own being non-acceptability of certain things, to that extent we are not in synthesis. If anyone is really in the presence of a grand Master, he is necessarily in synthesis; he has no barriers and no tendencies of separativity; he is like the Oceanic Consciousness that can reach out to every shore as a wave, and he sees that all is within the Oceanic Consciousness. He sees that it is that ocean or Oceanic Consciousness functioning even through him and through others.

We often listen to two statements; one says: “I AM THAT”, and another says: “THAT I AM”. When we say: “I AM THAT”, there is the possibility to grow more and more proud; “ but if we take to the other side of the statement, “THAT I AM”, it makes us realize that we are a small particle of a big ocean whose dimensions are not realized. It makes us humble when we get into the statement of “THAT I AM”. That is what is called in Sanskrit “SOHAM ASMI”. SAHA means THAT, AHAM-ASMI means I AM. SOHAM ASMI means THAT I AM. All that is, is the complete ONE, in which we are a part, instead of feeling: “I am everything”.

Primarily we have to realize THAT I AM or SOHAM ASMI. The Oceanic Consciousness is existing in us as the wave consciousness. We are all the waves of the ocean, we belong to the ocean, and everyone that is in Creation belongs to the ocean. Thus, we cannot have anything other than belonging towards everything in Creation. This is what is considered as the master key to wisdom.

The ocean exists in the waves; the wave has no separate existence; the wave is verily the ocean in the form of wave. Everyone of us is the wave aspect of the One Ocean. The wave is inseparable from the ocean; hence, each one of us is inextricably linked with the Universal Consciousness. It is through self proposed illusions we bring in our own walls of separativity.

This understanding is very important. This information is not new to anyone who is present here, but the information is of no use in so far as it is not realized and lived. If all of us have gathered here, there is something common in us - the urge for synthesis. The urge for synthesis has gathered us here. That means, the seed for synthesis is very much there, but when we try to manifest it through our mind, senses, and body, we clearly see some blockages within our own being. Let us not see the blockages in others; let everyone of us see what blockages we carry within our own being when we manifest synthesis through mind, senses, and body.

The Presence of the Master

We may call the Master and have His presence. If we live in His presence, the separativities drop off by themselves, and if separativities exist at any day, it is the absence of the Master more than the presence of the Master. So, every one of us may call the Master and live in the presence of the synthesis. It is this synthesis that every Master tries to present to the disciple. The strength of a disciple is seven times more when he is in the presence of the Master; otherwise he is 1/7th of what he is; that is, without the presence of the Master we are 1/7th of what we are. In the presence of the Master we are seven times more than what we are. If we make a mathematical calculation, our expansion is 49 times in the presence of the Master. This is because His presence, and the very thought of it, gathers around us seven varieties of angels.

Please remember that “the Master” means the Universal Consciousness that functions through a Master.

That is what we see in the story of Hercules. The presence of the Master brought him the blessings of the Devas and he got equipped. When we are in the presence of the Master, the angels of the six planes co-operate with us. That is how every Initiate functions. He lives in the presence of the Master, and then the angels and the Master function through and fulfil the tasks. That is why it is strongly recommended to continuously live in the Presence. We can find this in the 9th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita and also in the teachings of Jesus the Christ, when he said: “We live, we move, and we have our being in HIM”. It was a reality to him, that he lived, he moved, and he continued to have his being in HIM; consequently many angels functioned through, accomplishing the tasks that were entrusted to him. That is the big difference between the presence and the absence of the Master Consciousness.

By mere recollection we are linked to the Oceanic Consciousness, and by mere forgetfulness we are disconnected or delinked. Initiates are those who are mostly linked to the Oceanic Consciousness. We find only few moments in their lives where they disconnected. In our lives we find few moments where we are connected. Recollection is the key word to continue to live in the presence of the Master, and that if; how Hercules walked into the presence of the Master.

The Name

The Master asked him: What is your name, my dear son?” Hercules answered: “I am Hercules”. The Master understood where was he placed in terms of his awareness. The answer could have been “I AM”, or it could have been at best: “I AM called Hercules”, meaning: “I know THAT I AM, and I AM called by others as Hercules”. It is very natural that every aspirant feels that he is his name, but for the Initiate, names mean nothing; he is unattached to the name, and yet functions through the name. But Hercules said: “I am Hercules”.

Then the Teacher asked him: “Who are your parents, my dear son?” Hercules answered: “I know my mother, but I do not know my father”. The Teacher asked: “What have you learnt, my dear son?”, Hercules replayed: “Many things I know”. This is how normally the one who is just entering from objectivity to subjectivity, claims. He is more interested to tell the Teacher about himself; he takes to the talking part, while he is expected to get into the listening part. What for a student goes to the Teacher? To get enlightened by listening to the Teacher. But a student who is in infancy, in fancy about himself, (that is the right understanding of the word infancy), is in fancy and hence he speaks about himself all the time. The Teacher sees in what state of infancy the student is, because he has learnt long, long, long ago, how to listen. He knows how to listen, while the one who does not know, knows how to talk. That is why Hercules said: “I know many things”.

The Teacher asked him: “Who taught you all those things?” Then Hercules disregarded the teachers who taught him those things, and said: “You know, I have killed them all. I have also killed the lion”. So, he is trying to raise more and more the ignorance which is in him. Don't we see such situations in our own life? When we meet a more enlightened person we are expected to listen to him, but generally we are anxious to speak about ourselves to him, lest he might not know. We are very anxious to speak about all that we know, because otherwise he may not , have the right recognition of our own being.

A Teacher has compassion and also has the ability to suspend this kind of attitude in the disciple. Thus, the Teacher told Hercules: “Do not boast too much, my son. You will meet all those teachers once again. Let me see how you will function”.

Slowly the activity changes to where the student listens and the Teacher speaks. In the beginning it is the student who speaks more, but as he lives more and more in the presence of the Master, he learns to remain silent and listens to the Master. He realizes that by listening he gains more comprehension than by speaking. To be silent in the presence of the Enlightened Ones is a quality that one learns in the Path of Discipleship.

Thus, Hercules started remaining silent in the presence of the Master, and the Master was pleased with the quietitude of the disciple. Then the Master made the signal to the angels: “Now the fellow is somewhat quiet. You may co-operate with him”.

A Master is a channel of the Oceanic Consciousness. He may look to be very thin or very short or very unimpressive sometimes, but his form is a veil. Many times he puts on a very queer form to deceive people, yet he remains a channel to the Oceanic Consciousness. Thus, when the Master gives an impulse, all the angels of the seven planes start co-operating with the disciple. It is the presence of the Master that makes so much difference. It is as much a difference as you find vis a vis a magnet and an iron piece. For an iron piece to get magnetised, it takes aeons of time, but in the presence of another magnet, in a very short time, the iron piece transforms itself into a magnet. The presence of an Enlightened One is important to enlighten ourselves.

Hercules walked into the presence of the Master through recollection, and consequently the angels started visiting him. Please remember, the angels visited him at the behest of the Teacher, not by the eligibility of the disciple. Many times the disciple thinks: “I deserved it, so I got it”. Such an attitude makes him proud and fall. The fall is very quick when we think that all that is coming as co-operation to us is on account of us. When we do some small little works of goodwill, the angels are so pleased that they co-operate, the Nature co-operates, and the people around co-operate. We cannot see all this because we do not see what is happening behind the curtain, and we start believing: “It is because of me”. This happened with Hercules also, because verily the story of Hercules is the story of you and me.

The Breast Plate

The Teacher was pleased with Hercules, and consequently many angels started co-operating with him. Vulcan, the Fire God, gave Hercules a breast plate. Blessed is the one who gets this breast plate. Do you know what Vulcan can do for us? If the energy of Vulcan is stimulated in us, we cannot but progress on the Path. He keeps us always engaged in the Path, and he does not enable us to discontinue. That means, he holds us by the nose and makes us walk on the Path. This is because we have asked for it, and the Teacher has granted. If we have not asked for it, It is another thing. Since we have asked for it, he shall start working with us in continuity.

That means, the aspirant will not look hither and thither, and he is engaged in continuity with his spiritual practice. Don't we see people amidst our own groups who get in and get out, get in and get out periodically? If we commence spiritual practices many times it means that we have stopped many times. How can we commence many times unless we have stopped many times? Invoke the presence of the Master and the continuity is assured.

Vulcan stands by our side as fiery aspiration, because he is a fiery God. The fire is never put off, till we nave realized ourselves as the fire. We are always on the expressway and never lost into the sideways. That means, time is not wasted on account of our discontinuity. That is one blessing that we get in the presence of the Master.

The breast plate is indicative of the protective shield that protects us from the dangers of deviation. It sets us on the Path.

The Sword

Then Mercury visits us. It is said that Mercury visited Hercules and gave him a brilliant shining sword. It is the sword of discrimination, where the aspirant can very clearly see the programme of the Soul and the programme of the personality. We are drawn by the programmes of our mind, senses, and body beyond requirement. There are certain requirements which need to be fulfilled in relation to the body, but to keep engaged in programmes relating to the development of the body beyond the regions of nourishment, puts us away from the Path.

In daily life we have many events; some relate to the solar aspect and some to the lunar aspect. We keep a minimum and required programme of the lunar aspect and engage more and more in the solar aspect. That is the discrimination one should carry. Many times we do not carry this discrimination, and then we get engaged in side issues, unnecessary discussions, being critical about others, talking about people who are not present, because .1 we cannot talk all that in their presence. Our tongue itches till we speak something about others in their absence. There is also itching in the ear to listen to such things. These things sidetrack us, and we are away from the presence of the Master. The body, the senses, and our behavioural nature have their habits that draw us away from the programme of the Soul, which we are trying to inculcate.

This is where the regulations, which represent the first and second steps of Patanjali, figure in. Discrimination is one of the important faculties we need to carry with us. Many times we see that our discrimination does not function well, but when we invoke the presence of the Master, the discrimination is available.

There are two warriors in the Mahabharata: one is the hero, the other is the anti-hero. One is called Arjuna, the other is called Karna. Both are equally fierce in war; no one can say who is better between the two, and it is anybody's game when they fight. There is no way to seed them as seed one or seed two. We cannot rank them as number one or number two, but there is an advantage for Arjuna, as he is in the presence of the Lord, and hence he has the additional advantage of carrying the discrimination. For the anti-hero, who is equally capable, the discrimination is unfortunately absent at the right moment. Of what use is such discrimination when it is not available at the right moment?

A fellow like me knows that I should eat what is required for the body. It is clearly known, but it is forgotten at the dining table! What is the use of that knowledge? When we forget at the point of action, discrimination is only a luggage that we carry. However wise we are, we act otherwise when we do not carry discrimination at the right time. Instead of making an auto-proposal, saying: “I should be discriminative”, better live in the presence of the One Consciousness, and discrimination is available. The presence of mind of an Initiate is totally different from the presence of mind of an intellectual. The intellectual has the possibility of forgetting to be discriminative at the right moment, while it is not so for an Initiate. This is one thing that comes to us when we constantly recollect the One Consciousness pervading all, which is called the presence of the Master.

The sword of Mercury stands for Buddhi, the, light of the Soul, which is available in the presence of the Soul, the Master. It helps immensely in one's journey towards the TRUTH. Hercules was bestowed with it.

The Two Horses

Neptune presents Hercules two horses of excellent skills. The horse has a profound symbolism in the Scriptures. In one aspect, the horse stands for the sense objects and running for the satiation of senses. In another aspect, the horse stands for life energy. In still another aspect, the horse stands for the permeation of Light and its contraction. There are periods where Light permeates and periods where Light contracts, that means, we know when to externalise and when to internalize, keeping in tune with Nature.

Neptune offers an excellent tuning in to Nature. When we have tuned in to Nature we see that Nature has the double activity of expansion and contraction. There are periods of expansion and periods of contraction. Another aspect that is around us when we are in the presence of the Master is that we know when to act and when to remain silent, when to externalise and when to internalize, how to become a full moon and then how to recede as new moon or no moon. Please remember, when we are out of the presence of the Master, all these disappears instantly. Only in the presence of the Master these do work around us.

If we carefully study the life of Arjuna, there are so many angels and archangels that co-operated with him throughout his life. He had only success and splendour all over his life. He was called “Dhnanjaya”, meaning, 'a splendorously successful Initiate'. He was so splendorous and successful that his success and splendour were global, due to the co-operation of innumerable angels and archangels. These angels and archangels were around him only because he was constantly and continuously in the presence of the Master. Others used to wonder: “What is the strength of this fellow that he is so successful and so splendorous? Anything he touches, it grows. Anything he touches, it becomes splendorous. What is his strength?” The others used to feel jealous of him, but nothing deterred , Arjuna to progress because he carried the presence all the time. There were also occasions when Arjuna fell out of the presence due to pride, and in all such events he was a miserable failure.

The twin horses represent the twin ability to tune in and to tune out. There are times of expansion and times of contraction, when to act and when not to act, when to externalise and when to internalize, where to step and where to withdraw. Timing is the essence of one's success. When Time favours action, act; when Time favours no action, act not. Esoteric understanding of Astrology helps to gain this Time key.

The Bow And The Arrow

The Solar God Apollo gave Hercules a bow and arrows. Whenever we come across a bow and an arrow in the Scriptures, please make haste to relate it to Sagittarius. It makes us move straight on. The axis of Sagittarius and Gemini is “the Axis of Light” or “the Axis of Yoga”.

We invoke the male-female Lord from above by shooting up the arrow from below. The disciple is the arrow, the target is the Master Consciousness. The bow is the key to release the arrow into higher circles. The Master calls from above (Gemini) and the disciples moves up from the material world. The disciple is the fire in matter (Frictional Fire). The Master is Electric Fire. The bow is the means to reach the Electric Fire. Then the disciple raises from below.

The arrow of Sagittarius, which starts in 0⁰ of Sagittarius, pierces through the two pillars of Gemini and reaches the bull' s eye. The work of the bow and the arrow is very well depicted in the sun sign Sagittarius. If we have moon or sun or ascendant in the first 13⁰ of Sagittarius, we have an excellent chance of shooting high. For more details we can look to the books “Esoteric Astrology”, by Alice A. Bailey, and “Spiritual Astrology”, by Master E.K.

The bow, the means, the master key, represents the Sacred Word. The Upanishads declare time and again; the importance of the bow for the disciples. “Pranava Dhanuhu”- says the Upanishad, meaning, 'OM, the Sacred : Word, is the bow'. The disciple, with the help of the Sacred Word (the bow), reaches the higher and the higher realms as the arrow.

Thus, the Solar God bestowed bow and arrows upon Hercules, meaning, he initiated Hercules into the Sacred Word!

The Robe

Minerva, the Goddess of Wisdom, started weaving beautiful robes for him. This weaving of robe is the id formation of the etheric body in us, which is referred to in the New Testament as “the glorious white robe”. It is the body of Light that keeps forming in us. If we labour in the presence of the Master for 12 years, this body is fully prepared for us. That is what exactly Master CVV also promised: “Work out for 12 years according to the

three instructions that I have given to you. You can be sure of the formation of the Body of Light. Thereby you can remain immortal. You can transcend death, experience - the Bliss, the highest Truth, the Love”. All those alluring concepts become a reality if we work out for 12 years according to the instructions of a Master of Wisdom - please refer to the author's book “The Etheric Body”.

The Club

Hercules himself started preparing a weapon called the club. It is said that it is cut out of the grand tree of life. Club stands as a symbol from times immemorial of man's abode in the cerebro-spinal system. That means, Hercules started realizing his Own Being in the presence of the Master and in the presence of the angels. The story tells that the club was the speciality of Hercules. That is what is to be formed within the being in the presence of the work of these angels. More than forming, it is what is to be realized, because it is already there.

These are the six gifts Hercules gained in the presence of the Master, who is the seventh one. Volumes can be spoken about each one of them, but hints are enough to soak them into one's own being. These hints are given from the standpoint of the Vedic Astrology, because in the Veda all these symbols are repeatedly narrated. We will come across many more such symbols when we go into the labours of Hercules.

Recollection

When we are at leisure, we may be able to think of the Master, but when we are at labour, it is difficult to think of Him or retain His presence. That is a difficult situation and hence it is called a labour. As a task is entrusted to Hercules, he does the labour recollecting the presence. The Teacher is compassionate, labour after labour he entrusts and guides from behind.

This particular aspect in the story of Hercules very clearly demonstrates the importance of continuous recollection of the I AM Consciousness. We find this continuity of recollection in the life of Jesus, we find it in the life of Arjuna and in the stories of the Initiates who followed the Path of Synthesis. That is what is once again offered afresh through the Light which we call Master CVV. It is a method of getting into the Oceanic Consciousness without having to develop skills and capacities one after the other on our own.

Start living in the presence of the Master and the skills and capacities emerge from us. We work out the tasks, and we are fulfilled in every walk of life. We are fulfilled in our domestic life, in our vocational life, and in our social life. We walk upon the Path and the plans that are given to us by the Higher Ones are also fulfilled through us. The continuous recollection of the One Consciousness enables us to realize this fulfilment in every walk of life.

We live in HIM, we move in HIM, we have our being in HIM. When I say HIM, we can give any name to that 'HIM'. The name which I have been using is I AM. We can also use other names, what is important is to continuously recognize that we are a part of the whole, and verily, what is functioning through us, is the function of that Whole or the Ocean. If this becomes a habit with us, we transcend many limitations, and we gather many virtues around us without effort. That is what is called today as Agni Yoga, which was given at the twilight hours of DwaparaYuga and Kali Yuga by Lord Krishna to Maitreya. It is repeatedly given, since we forget. It is only repeated for recollection, not because it is not known before.

Thus, we make a strong resolve that we shall continue to remember the ONE in all that which we do. Recollection is the key note for the presence of the Master. The presence of the Master is the essential factor for receiving co-operation from all that is around, and it gradually fulfils our lives.

The Positive & Negative Energies

The first labour of Hercules was quite a simple one, because the Teacher entrusts simpler jobs to start with. As the disciple accomplishes the labour, he loads him with heavier jobs.

The first task given to Hercules was to control and subdue certain wild horses. They belong to Diomedes who is said to be the son of Mars. We shall have to understand what it means. Mars stimulates not only power, but also passion. There is the negative or malefic side of every planet and planetary energy. The malefic side of Jupiter also has certain habits, like gluttony and indulgence. Every Unit Consciousness carries in it the positive and the negative, because only with the two together, there can be a manifestation.

Only when there are the AC and DC channels of current, we have the light, and so there is the negative aspect of Mars, which makes man run after the sense objects. Diomedes is said to be a son of Mars, meaning, a quality of Mars. The negative aspect of Mars stimulates lot of passion for things, it is an endless pursuit of the sense objects in which man is engaged when he does not carry the wisdom in him.

Thus, the first labour given by the Teacher to Hercules was: “Go and control these wild mares of Diomedes. They are wild and they are of evil nature. They are causing damage to life, and they are even killing the sons of man”.

The Senses

It is true, man in pursuit of his sense objects kills himself gradually. Satiation of one sense object leads to the other. Pleasing the senses is an endless program. The Bhagavad Gita says: The satiation of senses is like attempting to put off the fire with ghee“. If we try to put off fire with ghee, the fire is increased. That means, each time we give ghee, there is more and more fire emanating.

We have the five senses that make us look to the sense objects, and above all, the sense of touch is the worst of them. The sense of touch and the sense of taste make us bound to the earthy life. The sight relates to light, and hearing relates to sound. So far it is okay, but when it comes to nose, it is smelling the matter, already it has a relation to matter; where there is no matter, there is no smell. Then there is the sense of touch which gives us a physical contact with the physical plane of things, the urge to touch keeps man attached to earthly things. Another contact with material is food. We are never tired of eating, isn't it? We are also not tired of touching. Any number of times we would like to touch again and again. Any number of times we satiate the senses, they come back to us and ask for more.

The impractical religionists suggest to us that we have to suppress the senses, but a man of wisdom suggests that we shall have to find a higher taste to overcome the lower taste. For a man who indulges in the senses, there is an endless programme of running after the sense objects. The senses are our messengers, they keep showing: “Here is a beautiful place. There is a beautiful restaurant with good food. Here is a beautiful lady, with whom you can have companionship”. Daily many things are shown.

The senses plunge towards the sense, objects like the horses, like the wild horses. A wild horse is one which is not tamed. If it is tamed, a horse is useful to conduct our work. A wild and untamed horse uses us for its purposes. The question is, are we using the senses or are the senses using us? When we are stuck in our lower self, we drift into an endless programme of satiating the senses, running after the sense objects. It is a wild horse race, running after money to satiate the senses, running after power to satiate the senses, running after material things to satiate the senses. In the process we get tired and even killed, because our energy is continuously expended.

The uncontrollable sensuous activity is what is represented by the wild horses of the son of Mars. The Mars aspect, in so far as it is afflicted in the horoscope, there is a big programme of the senses. If Mars is in square or in conjunction with Venus, the passions rule very high. The negative aspect of Mars in the horoscope puts man into the conditioning of working for the senses. An ordinary life guided by the lower self is a life of running after the sense objects. In that process man damages himself and gradually kills himself. That is what was told by the Teacher to Hercules. He said that these wild mares were not only damaging the lives of men, they were even killing the sons of men.

The Teacher said: “There are hundreds of such wild horses, and most of them are females”. In the Scriptures, female stands also for a symbolic presentation of tending more and more towards the material.

The Teacher told Hercules: “Go and subdue these wild mares”. That is the rust instruction of the Teacher to Hercules, and that is the first instruction of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Patanjali says: “Yoga is the suspension of the activity of senses”. It is suspension of the actions of the senses, so that we can act through the senses. The body is like a chariot, the five senses are the five horses that draw this chariot. If the five horses co-operate with each other and also co-operate with the charioteer, then there can be some travel. If the charioteer has no control over the horses and the five horses drive in five directions, the chariot breaks into pieces. That means, the body is destroyed, to be gathered again for a better luck. This is what is the damage done by these horses, represented here by the sense objects and the senses and the activity relating thereto.

For any disciple the fundamental aspect is to subdue or tame the senses. Just because the horses are wild, we don't have to get rid of them, we don't have to kill them. If we kill the horses of the chariot who will draw the chariot? That is why it is impractical to think of killing the senses. They need to be trained and to be tamed, so that they obey the orders of the charioteer. That is what is required and that is given as the first instruction by the Teacher. That is what is also given as the first instruction in the Yoga of Patanjali.

The Higher Taste

The key that Patanjali has given is: “Now you have developed a taste in the sense objects. How to get out of this taste? Until and unless you gain a higher taste, you don't leave the existing taste”. There is a way to put man to higher taste, so that he leaves off the lower taste, and this is the positive key given by Patanjali.

If a child is holding a razor blade in its hand and we try to take away the razor blade from him, he cries. If we try to snatch away the razor blade from him, there is the danger of cutting his fingers. If we ask the child to get rid of the blade, it does not. If we try to use force, the child weeps but will never leave the blade, but if we show him a chocolate, the child has a higher taste for chocolate and immediately leaves off the blade. It throws the blade and seeks for the chocolate.

To every man it shall have to be shown a higher taste to enable him to get rid of the lower taste. Many people think of getting rid of darkness. It is not necessary that we have to get rid of darkness; let us invoke the Light, and when the Light is put on, darkness itself is transformed into Light! Cultivate the higher taste to drop off the lower taste.

So also the horse shall have to be trained in that fashion. By continuously beating a wild horse we will not make it work. There is a technique to tame it. Tame it, befriend it gradually, saddle it, mount upon it, and conduct your travel with speed. The horses or the senses, which are our apparent obstructions, are also our support when they are properly tamed.

The wild horses spoken of by the Teacher are nothing but the wild activity of the senses within the being of the disciple. They are in marshy land, and they are wild and very ferocious. We are asked to go and tackle them. We will become very muddy, unless we tackle them well. Our own field of action is what is represented by the marshy land. The field of action is what is called Kurukshetra. Each one of us has his own “Kurukshetra”; the senses and sense objects are very wild.

The Teacher's first task is to see that the disciple tames the horses. The disciple has the additional strength of the presence of the Master, and hence it should not be difficult for him to tame the horses.

Thus, Hercules walked into that land, the kingdom of Diomedes, where the horses were very wild. With the help of the presence of the Master, he cornered them and brought them back into order, but then, having accomplished the task, he once again let off the alertness.

Abderis or the Lower Mind

It is said in the story that Hercules had a friend who always accompanied him; it is the lower mind that accompanies the future son of God. In our life, as well, we may be very rhythmic vis a vis our functioning with the senses for a period, and later, just for a while, if we try to relax, the old habits spring back. We cannot relax till we are strong with the new habits. When we are strong with the new habits, there is no scope for the old habits to spring back.

Hercules relaxed after having accomplished the control over the senses, which is stated as: “He handed over the horses to his friend Abderis”. Abderis is the lower nature or the lower mind, called the mind stuff, which has never any control over the senses. On the contrary, he is guided by the senses. If we hand over the mares to such a person, they, once again, behave wild. The senses have a control over our behavioural nature, and our habits have an overpowering control over our lower nature. When we stand in Light they remain quiet, when we stand aside from the Light they spring back into activity. When Hercules relaxed, the lower mind was, once again, overpowered, and the horses, once again, flew away.

The lower self is conquered once again by the senses and the sense objects. This overpowering or conquering is what is reflected as killing. The friend got killed because Hercules handed over the horses to him. Hercules had to tame once again the horses and bring them back into order. Having succeeded, he failed, and having failed, he had to do the labour for a second time.

He was looked at as a saviour by the people. Who are the people? In our own being there are many Devas and many intelligences functioning. They suffer immeasurably when we are irresponsible in our actions through the senses. The intelligences of the sight, hearing, smell, taste, all suffer when we abuse them. When the abuse is neutralized, these intelligences feel saved by us. They look to the Light in us as the saviour. The Devas function in a rhythmical way in us, and, consequently, our body is intact, but in so far as our actions cut across their rhythm, they slowly start receding, because they feel that it is not a safe place for them to live. That is why they recede from the digestive system, and we say: “I have indigestion”, but why do we have indigestion? Because the digestive Devas said good bye. Then we say: “My liver is not good; it does not function well”, meaning that the functioning of the Devas in the liver ceased. Like this, as they leave one after the other, we say: “This is not functioning, that is not functioning”. Till we get into an attitude of rectification, they stand aside. Sometimes we go that far that they do not return into us. Then we have to think of some transplantation.

When we behave well they feel: “It is the Light functioning and hence we can remain. The saviour is here”. When we function with discrimination, it means that the Light of Mercury is present in us. Then the intelligences have the relief that the saviour is very much here. All those who were saved by this action of Hercules applauded within his own being that he was a saviour, and he returned to the Teacher.

The Intentions

The Teacher said: “You have done it okay, but…” He stopped with 'but', meaning: “You did it all right, but you didn't do it well”. This is what happens to all of us. That is where the story of Hercules is very intimate to everyone of us. After all, if we listen to the story of a perfectionist who is unreachable by us, we are left in a hopeless state. We need a disciple who progressed, making mistakes here and there, because this is a process of transformation. Sometimes the Light prevails, sometimes the triple body prevails. The Teacher understands all this and never counts the disciple by his attainments nor by the results that he achieved; he counts the disciple by his attitude and intentions.

To the Teacher, the intentions of the disciple are more important than his accomplishments. Accomplishments are relating to greatness, intentions are in relation to goodness. In the Path of Wisdom, goodness stands in preference to greatness. Greatness glitters, but goodness nourishes. The glitter is temporary, but the nourishment is good for all times to come. No Teacher counts the mistakes of the disciple; he counts his intentions. If the intentions are good, even if the results are bad, the Teacher continues to function with the disciple. On the contrary, if the accomplishments are good but the intentions are bad, the Teacher, at once, leaves the disciple.

Overspeed

The teacher told Hercules: “You should be a little more alert. Carry the sword of Mercury. Having accomplished, you have become a little indifferent”. We also tend to be indifferent now and then, arising out of the previous habits. The Teacher cautions, and having cautioned the disciple, gave him the next job.

The horses were in relation to the sign of Aries, whose ordinary ruler is Mars. Mars is the ruler of the sun sign Aries in the life of an average man, which is represented by the impulsive action, the speed in action, the dash in action, expending more energies than what is required in action. Aries works too hard and then rests for too long.

I have heard people saying: “They contribute with their health also in service, in goodwill work! They sacrifice, they do not care even their health”. Those must be Aries. Only Aries do like that. They go too far, because the enthusiasm is too much. What is to be worked out in ten days, they work out in three days, but they fall sick for the next seven days. So, it is just the same. If there is any Aries, he can himself see whether it is true with him or not. It is very true.

Hercules was too fast in conquering and too quick in slipping out of it, hence he had to do it again. So, the same job he did twice; there was no time gained by doing it faster. This is one thing that Aries has to learn, that he shall have to set his pace in a reasonably good speed, but not in overspeed. It is generally the case with people with fiery signs. Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius, they work up to their wits' end, and then fall off as logs of wood, which is very clearly depicted in the story.

The Yogic Programme In Aries

Aries also affords an opportunity to give a programme for the senses for the year to come. This is an important aspect coming out of the spiritual side of astrology. Because it is important for all of us, I put it to you. There is a way to give a good programme for the

senses for the year to come, starting from the new moon in Aries till the full moon in Aries; that is, 15 days. Remember the new moon followed by the full moon in Aries. It is called the season of the spring. In these 15 days, if we give a good yogic programme for the senses, y it will cause the taming of the senses for the year to come. That is why in ancient times these 15 days from new moon to full moon in Aries were considered very sacred.

A spiritual student was required to retire into a total yogic programme to give nourishment to all the five senses according to the laws of Nature. The sight, the hearing, the taste, the smell, the touch, everything was put to nourishment, and all the five senses were made to gain poise. The yogic programme in these 15 days of Aries holds the spiritual student in good state for the year to come, because that is the spring season, which is called Vasantha in Sanskrit. The sprouts emerge for the cycle in the month of Aries.

Which way we orient during these 15 days, more or less decides our programme for the year. The glyph of Aries reminds us that there are two possibilities for us in the year and they are divergent; that means, we can take to the right or to the left, according to the programming we do in the first 15 days. The month of Aries shall have to be put to good use. The entire fortnight from new moon to full moon shall have to be earmarked for a good yoga seminar. It can be done together, because together we are strong, and individually we have certain weaknesses. There can be a gathering around this period to work out for 15 days. The Teachers used to gather disciples on these astrologically important days to give them the required nourishment to progress on the Path.

Discrimination

Aries itself can be discoursed for a month, but in this labour it relates to taming the senses; that means, the ruler of the sign is Mercury, but not Mars. For the one who is at the individuality level, the ruler is Mars. For the one who is at the personality level, it is Mercury, and for the one who is at the Soul level, it is Uranus! The activity of Mars (negative Mars) can be neutralized by the energy of Mercury through the use of discrimination. Discrimination does not manifest by our pressing a button, discrimination dawns in us when we recollect the presence of the Master. It is the Light of the Soul. When the Soul is invoked, the Light of the Soul, is automatically present.

The Light cannot be separated from the Soul. The sun light cannot be separated from the sun. The moment we invoke the sun, he comes with the light, not without light. Invocation of the presence of the Master enables the descent of the Light of Wisdom, which gives us the discrimination.

We should look to Mercury, but not Mars in Aries, when we look to horoscopes of people who are trying to develop themselves. The astrology which we know will get replaced by the spiritual astrology in the future.

Inertia

Today we have to deal with the bull of Taurus. The very word bull suggests a very lazy, slow moving thing. The Teacher wakes up the disciple who is resting. It is very common that we crave more for rest than for work, and we always look for intervals to rest. The understanding of an Initiate is that the rest is in work and there is no such thing as taking rest as physical inertia. Mental silence gives enough rest. Craving for physical rest is only tending towards more and more inertia and heaviness of the atoms of the body.

As we get into the second labour, we find a very funny situation. Hercules did not turn up for the second labour! It was the Lord who called the Teacher and said: “Where is your disciple? He is not to be seen”. This is a very appropriate presentation of the status of a disciple in the making. A disciple in the making craves more for rest and for sleep, and the Teacher should make sure that less and less sleep is provided to the disciple. The idea of putting the disciple to less sleep is to see that more fire is generated and matter is put to transmutation. That is why every Teacher is a “hard task master”. Unless the initial training is hard, the massiveness of the matter will not be overcome.

The disciple in the beginning complains about the lack of rest, and he escapes from '.the jurisdiction of the Teacher to take rest. Then the Teacher tries to put him to work up to midnight and wakes him up even before sunrise!

This is the game played between the Teacher and the taught, because the initial inertia shall have to be overcome by the aspirant. Yesterday we have heard of Brother Pedro, and how he used to put the group to study beyond midnight and wake them up by morning. Throughout the day, they have to work, and up to midnight, they have to study. Less importance is given for physical comforts, and more importance is given for continuous generation of the fire of aspiration.

Thus, after the first labour, Hercules took rest. That means, the next day the Teacher is in the class, but not the student. When the Teacher is alone, he is with his Master or the Universal Consciousness. So, there was a dialogue between the Teacher and the Lord, and they exchanged some jokes. The Lord asked: “Where is the fellow that boasted so much yesterday?” Always the One in the sky makes jokes with the one on earth; it is fun for Him to see the son of God functioning with the son of man.

Thus, the Lord asked the Teacher: “Where is your good disciple?” Normally the Teacher tries to defend the disciple by saying: “Oh, he is tired; he will come”, but .the Lord smiled and said: “He will not come. Go and wake him up”. The Teacher has the responsibility of waking up the disciple. So the Teacher called forth Hercules and gave him the second task.

Serving The Bull

The second task was to secure the bull from the island of Crete and then see that it is not sacrificed by the ruler of the island. The bull was in the island, and if it remained there, it is sure that it would be sacrificed by the ruler of the island. So it should be secured to the mainland even before it was sacrificed by the ruler of the island. That was the next task.

The “Teacher told Hercules: “Go and fetch the bull. It is grazing in the island. The ruler of the island is planning to sacrifice it. Secure it before it is sacrificed. If it is sacrificed, the programme will be over for this incarnation, and the curtain will be dropped for this life. So, we must make sure, that the bull is not sacrificed. This is the second labour”.

According to the Vedic symbolism, the bull is the ray of Light that descends from the sun to the planet earth, and so is the case with us, as we also descended into the body. Essentially we are the rays of the sun, and we have descended into the body. In Aries we have given some regulations to the senses, so that we do not engross into earthy things with our earthy body. The earthy body is exhausted in getting earthy things. That was saved in the first labour, because the horses are not allowed now to go hither and thither as they like. The senses are somewhat behaving well.

Then what happens? The man is in with the body. The mainland is referred to as the land divine and immortal, and the island as the land relating to the lower centres. The island is surrounded by waters!

Generally the aspirant is surrounded by waters, like the waters of emotion, waters of impulses, waters of instincts. Instincts, impulses, and emotions rule very high and that is where the bull was mazing. It is appropriately called the bull, because we know how a bull functions.

The ray of Light has descended into the mainland and from there into the island, and it is now surrounded by waters. If it remains in that island, very soon there will be a deluge of emotions, impulses, and instincts and the bull will die. So it has to be secured to the mainland.

The Lift Up From The Form

Taurus is an earthy sign and it deals with the form aspect of Creation. Man is busily engaged in the form aspect of Creation, but the form aspect is only one forth of the total Creation, and it is the exterior to something which is interior. The interior is three times more splendorous, beautiful, and is also immortal. Only one forth, the form aspect, is mortal and it dies; it dies and is given birth to, it dies again and is given birth to, and again it dies; it is temporary in its existence. When we are stuck in that, we have limited ourselves to one forth of our splendour. One has to be lifted up from this mortal state to the immortal state.

The lifting up from the earth is what is indicated in this labour. It is lifting up from the form, to show that which is more beautiful behind the form. In so far as man lives in this island of emotion, he is a prisoner of the form. All his outlook is experiencing with the form. It is appropriately called outlook, because we only look out and don't look in. The entire outlook is totally preoccupied with the form.

The Three Mountains

The bull is imprisoned in an island which is surrounded by three mountains. The symbolism of three mountains comes from the Scripture Ramayana, it is called Tricuta, 'three times bounded by the three mountains', into which one walks in when he is attracted to the form. He does not know how to return until and unless he realizes the futility of the form.

Some of you may have known at least the sketchy story of Ramayana, where there is a lady called Sita, meaning a 'Soul', like you and me, who was living with Rama, that is, the Solar God. One day, when they were moving in the forest, Sita found among many beautiful things a golden deer. Sita looked at the golden deer. She never had any desires in her life, because she had always been associated with the Solar God, but it so happened that when she saw the golden deer, she wanted to have it, and by doing so, she walked into the trap of a ruler of an island, called Lanka.

When we are attracted to the form, we unknowingly walk into the “Lanka”. Lanka does not mean the place Sri Lanka that we have on the globe. Lanka, according to the scriptural symbolism is the place below the navel. If we go below the navel, we are caught. We are caught by the three whirlpools of energy, which are the Solar Plexus or Manipuraka, the Sacral Centre or Swadisthana and the Base Centre or Muladhara. These

are the three mountains, in which we become a prisoner. There is no way for us to come out of it. We are separated from the mainland, which is the Heart Centre or Anahata, the Throat Centre or Visuddhi, the Brow Centre or Ajna, the Head Centre or Sahasrara etc., and we start living in a land which is not really ours, in a land which is cut off from the mainland, and we live in it as a prisoner, eating the grass that is available there. That is how the grazing bull is described.

Eating grass means satiating desire after desire with the form. Every time we satiate a desire; another desire springs up relating to the form. We grow strong more with the body and less with the Soul. The energies of the Soul find their downward stream. The possessive instinct is the ruler of the island, reflected as Ravana in the Ramayana, and represented as the king Minos, the story of Hercules. Minos, the ruler of the island, has a programme to sacrifice the descended Soul. He allows the bull to grow in the land, and when it grows to full size, he wants to kill it; that means, the Soul aspect is totally forgotten, and only the body awareness prevails. If we speak to such people about the immortal and divine aspect of Creation, they heckle at us, they make a mockery of us, and make us feel that we are a kind of a madcap. When there is so much available in the outer to enjoy, to say that this is all not so very beautiful compared with that which is inner, it is very unpalatable to such persons.

When we are caught within the triangular forces of the Solar Plexus, Sacral, and Base Centres, we are governed by emotions, impulses, and instincts, and we establish a downward flow of energies. It is a process of involution which needs to be arrested, so that the Soul will be once again secured above the diaphragm. That was the task given to Hercules.

The Solution

Hercules was asked to overcome the emotions, overcome the impulses, overcome the instincts. How to do it? How Hercules did it, is not said in the story. It is only said, he did it, but that does not give us the solution. The solutions are written in other Scriptures. There are many world Scriptures which carry the solutions. Even in the myth that is given by the Tibetan Master, he has kept it hidden. We do not know how Hercules reached the island and how he returned from the island fetching the bull. That part of the know-how is left unsaid.

We find the clues in the Ramayana, where the lady Sita is also caught in the Lanka or the island. Then the communications were first established between the mainland and the island through the element of air. That is what is shown as a Monkey God flying from the

mainland to the island and returning from the island to the mainland, getting the message.

When we are separated from the Solar God, we need a messenger that conducts messages between him and us, because by ourselves we cannot once again retrace the steps. In the story of Hercules, we find Hercules, the son of God, conducting the message between the island and the mainland, while the bull is the imprisoned Soul. Air conducts the bridging aspect between the separated unit of consciousness and the Pool of Consciousness. That is why air is said to be the direct presence of God.

To Breathe Consciously

In our evening invocation we salute the air by saying: “Namaste Vayu”, and we continue by saying: “Twamewa Pratyaksham Brahmasi”, which means: “You are the only direct manifestation of the Brahman, the God Absolute. Verily, you are the only one who is the link between me and the Solar God”. The element air conducts the bridging aspect between the separative consciousness and the Oceanic Consciousness. In us also there is the continuous functioning of air. That is why the aspirants, in the initial stages, are given an exercise to consciously breathe, which is different from Pranayama.

We think that breathing itself is Pranayama. Each time we consciously inhale, the energies from above reach the centres below, and, as we consciously exhale, the Soul that is imprisoned in the lower centres, is pulled up into the higher centres. Hence the importance of conscious breathing at least for 24 minutes in the morning and 24 minutes in the evening. As we inhale, the solar angel descends into the well where we are caught, and as we exhale, he brings us up along with him. This is a process that has to be consciously worked out, as it enables the drying up of the waters of emotion. The appropriate time for such a work are the morning and evening hours. If we make deep inhalations three times, there will be already the secretions from the lacrimonial glands, and there will also be too much of yawning; that is, we started boiling the settled waters of emotion. There should be continuous and regular breathing, conscious breathing with an understanding that with inhalation the energies in the higher centres are reaching the lower and with exhalation the energies of the lower are pulled up to the higher.

When this is regularly done, our body becomes very light, because the cells of the body are put to heat, the heat being generated by the life force that is drawn in. This is different from the fourth step of Pranayama of Patanjali, it is only a normal breathing, not even a breathing exercise, as most of us don't even breathe normally as our breathing is affected by our emotions. Whenever we are impulsive and emotional, the rhythm of our breath is hopelessly affected.

When we try to breathe consciously, we are establishing a link between all the centres above and below the diaphragm. That is the work of the Monkey God called Hanuman in the Ramayana, and also the work of the air within our own being. He establishes a good bridge between the higher and the lower centres. In the story of the Ramayana it is said that there were the flying monkeys who have built the bridge between the mainland and the island, so that the solar angel could walk up to the island!

Thus, Hercules reached the island, just like Rama reached Lanka. Then he had to hunt for the bull, but the bull is busy in other things. It is the bull within himself only. We all have the bull inside, besides the bull's eye, we also have the bull. The bull moves in the stomach, and hence we have very heavy stomachs. The bull is in the watery land, eating anything and everything, and becoming strong with such material stuff, and has only one programme, that is, to eat as much as is available and sleep over. We call a man a stud bull if he is only engaged in these two items of life.

The Tongue

The stud bull has only one programme, to eat according to availability, not according to requirement. I don't think we are very far from it sometimes. If something very tasty is available, even if it is not required, don't we see people eating it? Even for social custom we try to eat when it is not required. It is the custom in the society of bulls, not in the society of men. Only bulls eat according to social custom. This bull is a very strong one, and it is not so easy to handle it.

Five thousand years ago a disciple asked Lord Krishna: “Which is the most difficult thing to handle?” Krishna said: “The tongue”. If we can handle our tongue, we have handled everything in this Creation. The tongue has a double function, one is to eat according to the taste, another is to speak according to the emotional instinct. Eating and speaking indiscriminately are the two strong aspects of the human bull. An animal bull, poor thing, only knows to eat, it does not know to speak; at best it makes a roar, which is not so very devastating as the speeches of the human bull. That is why Krishna said: “If you are able to regulate your tongue, 70% of your spiritual practice is complete.

I told you before how are we linked to earth through the material food we take through the tongue. That is why, when man turns more and more spiritual, he looks more for spiritual food than for material stuff. He is disinclined to absorb the heaviness of the matter. Gradually, he lifts from heavier food to lighter food, from lighter food to water, and from water to air. There are people who only eat air and sunlight! It is not a fantasy or something mystical, it is a question of preparing oneself in a gradual fashion.

The bull that Hercules had to catch, is the one that speaks and eats as it likes. In so far as this bull is not conquered, the son of man is a hopeless prisoner of the form. That is why the advanced spiritual students are utterly careful about speech and food. They are not only careful about the quantity, but also about the quality. Quantitative eating and speaking is reduced to qualitative eating and speaking.

The Three Regulations

The regulations are threefold here. Daily we distil the waters of emotion through conscious breathing. This helps us to be qualitative in our eating. Then we shall also carry out the work of being qualitative in speaking. When these three are together, we arrest the downward flow of the energy. If we do not arrest it, it also flows in the form of sexual energy.

There are six channels for dissipation of energy, which are the five senses and the sixth one, which is as strong as the five put together: that is, the sexual energy, the sexual instinct. The instinct to see, to hear, to taste, to smell, and to touch, and the sexual instinct, are the 6 channels for dissipation or externalization of the energy. This externalization will get arrested. It is like building a dam across the river, which arrests the downward flow. What for do we arrest the waters of the river? To cultivate the land. Likewise the same energy is utilised to cultivate the body. When the energy, which is intended to nourish and cultivate the body, flows into the objectivity, the body lacks nourishment and dies. This is where the first and second step of Patanjali figure in as regulations relating to speech, breathing, and food. When these three are regularly conducted, then, slowly, we are able to conquer the bull.

The bull has another connotation in the Vedic symbols. Bull stands for the sound or the speech. When the regulations of speech are well attended to, there is the upward movement of the energy. On one hand we are qualitative in our speech, and on the other hand we put the tongue to a process of purification through rhythmic musical utterance of sacred sounds. Daily rhythmic musical utterances of sacred sounds for one hour enables the upward movement of the energies. This is the importance of sound: to pull ourselves up. A tongue that is purified with good food and good rhythmic musical utterances does not indulge in falsehood, misrepresentation, wasteful speeches, and in being critical about others. It does not cause disputes or carry the right to judge others. Please look to the author's instructions on sound, in the book “Sound -the Key and its Application”.

Just because we have a tongue we do not have to judge people. It is a vicious activity that we carry with the tongue. There was a Greek philosopher who said: “The tongue is like a cobra in the mouth; it can sting and kill people by speech”. He said: “Do not get frightened by the double tongue of the cobra; be careful about the double tongue of man”. In the case of the cobra we clearly know that it has two tongues; in the case of man it appears to be one, but he has many.

Our tongue is a tongue of many languages; that means, it can speak in varieties of ways about the same thing according to our likes and dislikes and according to our instincts, impulses, and emotions. There shall have to be a definite programme for the tongue, if we wish to carry out the occult practices. At this stage of discipleship, the disciple is instructed to be qualitative in food, to be qualitative in speech, to put the tongue to sacred utterances; to consciously breathe, and to be conscious about the breathing that happens within the being.

The Inner Happenings

A man who is engaged so much in the form aspect, least realizes that there is the happening of respiration in him. The first occult observation that a student has to make is about the happening of respiration in his being. When we get into the awareness of our respiration, we will get into a rhythm, which is an inner rhythm, and we cease to be excessively objective; it helps us to turn inward, and thereby we cease to be outward. In the very first class we have recollected that occultism is turning inward, but not searching outward.

That is why the Scriptures repeatedly remind us of the happenings within our being. Seeing the happenings inward, one gets the curiosity to know how they are happening without our proposal. There is the circulation of blood, where continuously the purification of blood happens on one side and collection of the impure blood on the other side. There is continuous recycling of blood in the being, which is an aspect of purification, that is worked out by the heart with respiration as its supporting agent. Respiration is supported by pulsation.

We grow aware of the significant activity within our being and the beauty' of its functioning without our proposal. We realize that our actions cannot go to disturb this rhythmic function within the being. When this rhythm is gradually gained in our being, we try to find much more interest within our being than without: When once we have thus turned occult, we start seeing the whole world from within. That is why, for hundreds of years, the seers in the Himalayas keep seeing from within all that is happening on the planet and beyond the planet. The inner happenings are much more interesting once we have turned in, and the futility of the outer activity is clearly realized. To such people, the outer things are not very attractive, and the outer activities are attended to the minimum extent of requirement. This is how the process is taken to. This is the sure Path to Shambala. A wild imagination about Shambala will not help us to reach Shambala. We have very wild imaginations going beyond the system, but there is a wise path we can follow to get into all those sacred places which the seers visit.

Visuddhi

Hercules caught hold of the bull and started bringing the bull towards the mainland. This is how we also have to thread the nose of the bull, and drive it into the mainland. The bull within us shall have to be brought up to the Throat Centre; that is the goal. If once the bull within is brought up to the Throat Centre we have made the link between the mainland and the island, because the Throat Centre is the linking point between the three higher centres and the three lower centres.

That is why every Master of Wisdom emphasizes upon the purification of the Throat Centre. If the Throat Centre is purified, there can be traffic between the higher and the lower centres; thus, it is the tunnel between that which is above and that which is below. Mercury, the messenger of the gods, functions to conduct the messages from the higher circles to the lower, and vice-versa.

Appropriately the Throat Centre is called Visuddhi in Sanskrit, but what does exactly Visuddhi mean? Suddhi means 'purity', and Visuddhi means 'extraordinarily pure'. If the throat is kept extraordinarily pure, the bull roars very well. That is why the student of the East was put to Vedic rhythmic musical utterances for hours.

If we utter the Gayatri mantram more than ten times, there will be some who complain, but if you come to India, I will show you schools where rhythmic musical utterances are done for three hours daily! It is a very scientific process of purification of the three lower centres via the Visuddhi. There is an intellectual aristocracy which makes one feel that all this is old, but do you have a more effective modem method to purify the three centres and Visuddhi together'? If you have such a thing, I will be your student. Such is the importance of rhythmic musical utterances to straight away clean the lower centres and the Throat Centre.

What is given by the seers of the past is not sectarian; it is universally applicable, and is eternally true. Since we carry very little minds, we try to decide about the effectiveness of the methods given by those grand seers. If we make a fire and utter for one hour, the mind, the senses, the body, and everything is put to purification. Visuddhi is the real status of the Throat Centre. If we have a good Visuddhi, even people sitting far beyond this hall can also listen to us because of the magnetic functioning of the sound. We don't need the magnetic instruments to amplify the voice. We use the external magnets because the magnets in the throat are not functioning. In the case of an Initiate, there is something magnetic in his voice. More than what he says, the very sound has its impact upon the people. That is how Visuddhi functions. If it really functions we surely reach the mainland, as we reach the pure state of the throat.

When we speak with a pure throat it is like the roar of the bull, called Rig Veda. There is also a bull of the Veda, the third one, which is called the trill of the voice. The silence is transformed into sound because of the trill, not because of the vocal cords. It is this trill which is called Rig Veda, and the respiration is called Sama Veda. When one functions with these two as the basis, it is called Yajur Veda. The Vedas are not books. What is happening in Creation and within the human being was recorded, and these are called the books of the Veda. The Veda or the wisdom starts functioning as we reach the Throat Centre, and by reaching the Throat Centre, we have established the link with the Hierarchy. The Hierarchy is from the Heart Centre and above.

As Hercules rides over the bull as if it is a horse and reaches the mainland, he meets three Cyclops and also three beautiful ladies. This is also very true vis a vis the occult anatomy of the human being. According to the occult anatomy, there is the meeting of the three energies in the Brow Centre, Throat Centre, Heart Centre, and the Base Centre, but not in the Solar Plexus and the Sacral Centre, where there is the watery and emotional aspect. The Cyclops are said to be the one-eyed beings who move things in the air.

The Three Ladies

If you go to Greece, they explain that the big masses of rock with which the structures are made were carried in the air by the Cyclops. These Cyclops are the elementals of air whom we meet on our way to Visuddhi, which already represents the etheric aspect. We meet the three ladies representing the triple aspect of the One Force. One lady is called the Lady of Strength, the second is called the Lady of Light, and the third is called the Lady of Rhythm. When these three ladies saw Hercules coming, they saw him according to their nature, just like we see according to our nature. One lady said: “He is coming with the bull, with great strength”, the other lady said: “He carries much light”, and the third one said: “His I movement on the bull is like the movement of the waves”

Thus, we meet the rhythmic aspect, the light aspect, and the power aspect as we reach the Throat Centre. When we have reached the Throat Centre, the strength that we carry is different from the physical strength that we have. It is said that, in the beginning, Hercules was physically strong, but now he is strong even otherwise; now he has no more weaknesses of instincts, impulses, and emotions. The real strength is in overcoming these three aspects of emotion Physically we may be very strong, but the moment we see some kind of smoke coming in this hall, we get totally disturbed. We already fear a volcanic eruption, just by seeing a little smoke coming from somewhere. If we are not emotional, we will only see how to work with it, but if we are emotional, we only ball out: “Oh! Oh! Oh!”, and no one attends to it. Physical strength is no strength at all. If the physical strength is the strength, the bulls and the buffaloes should be considered stronger than man, and we should start respecting the donkeys, because they carry more load than we. If a man can carry a lot of physical luggage, we cannot call him a strong man; at best we can call him: “Oh, he is like a donkey, he can carry loads”, but if the same thing is done with an attitude of service, it is another thing.

Physical strength has now been replaced in Hercules by the strength of light and the strength of wisdom. Having the strength of wisdom, we will not get emotionally disturbed when there is a sudden change of programme. In the morning, when I don't get my cup of coffee by 5 o'clock, I am emotionally disturbed and I start criticising people; later I come and start the prayer at 6 o'clock. See what kind of double standards we carry. All this disappears when we have really reached the Throat Centre. For further details about the Throat Centre we can go through the discourses on Mercury, on Gemini, that I have given in the past, or look into the book “Sound -the Key and its Application”.

Hercules met the three ladies. Then he was asked: “Who are you?” That question had been asked in the previous labour also, where he had answered: “I am Hercules”. At that time he was very definite that he was Hercules; but in the second labour it was not so, and he said: “I am a son of God”. That is the change! That is what we have to see while reading the story. “Why have you brought this bull here?”, was the next question. Hercules answered: “I have secured it, lest it might be killed in the island”. Only when this bull is secured we have a chance to survive. That is how he has secured the bull and then it was taken care of. He was not fancied about the bull. That is the next step. He did not show up his bull everywhere; he did not speak out what he had learnt so far, unless asked with certain degree of interest; he did not go around, boasting about the capturing of the bull. On the contrary, he simply handed over the bull to the Cyclops and came back to the Teacher.

To come back to the Teacher is more important than to live in one's own attainments. In the Occult Path there is always the persisting or subsisting duty, than rejoicing about what is already gained. He went to the Teacher and then the Teacher asked: “Where is the bull?” Hercules did not feel that he had done a mistake. It was the Teachers trick on him asking about the bull. The Teacher wanted to know whether the disciple was glamoured about his own bull of speech.

The Eye of the Needle

Hercules left the bull and came into the presence of the Master, and the Master asked where the bull was. Hercules very confidently answered: “You wanted me to secure the bull to the mainland and it is done”; that is all about it. “You did not ask me to bring it to you”. If we were in the position of Hercules, we would like to show every little attainment of ours to the Master. We cannot walk into the presence of the Master with the recollection of our own attainments. Walking to the Master is like walking through the eye of the needle. We can only walk through as I AM, and it does not permit any other thought, because even I AM is a thought. Please, ponder upon this. I AM is the original thought relating to us. I AM is a process of localization from the Oceanic Consciousness. Even this is a thought, 'I AM', and around this there are many other thoughts. Other thoughts are not allowed, if we wish to walk into the Oceanic Consciousness. Only the wave can merge in the ocean, but not other things that float on the wave. Other things that float on the wave, also float on the ocean, but they are not absorbed. They may even sink, but they don't form part of the sea.

Thus, with other thoughts we cannot walk into the presence of the Master. The only thought with which we can reach him again is 'I AM' and no other. In this context we shall have to read the sun sign Taurus.

Some Astrological Hints

It is very difficult to discourse upon the sun sign Taurus just in about half an hour or 15 minutes. Every sun sign is divided into three layers: the layer of individuality, the layer of personality, and the layer of the Soul. If any of the planets in our birth chart are between the 20th and 30th degree of any sun sign, understand that they help us in relation to our Soul activity. Suppose that we have Venus at 26 degrees; that means, our Venus helps us in relation to our Soul activity, and much more so if it is in Libra or Pisces, but if the same planet is between the 10th and 20th degree of a house, then we are at the personality level in relation to the vibration of that planet. If the planet is positioned below 10 degrees, we receive the individuality vibrations relating to that planet.

Speaking about the labours of Hercules and speaking about Taurus, we have now worked out the second step; that is, between the 10th and 20th degree, but we will have to come back again to Taurus to get into the higher aspects of Taurus. There we meet the Pleiades and then the energies behind the Pleiades.

In the Path of Discipleship we cannot mix up from the form aspect directly with the Pleiades and the bull's eye etc. We shall have to see which is the jurisdiction of Taurus that functions on us. If the sun is in Taurus, one is like a bull, and if the moon is in Taurus, one is like a cow; it makes so much difference already. Sun in Aries makes us a shepherd, moon in Taurus makes us a cowherd boy, but if we have moon in Aries and sun in Taurus, there is a long path to tread. That is how it is. Please, don't think I am deciding about it. That is what astrology tells us.

If we have our moon in a fiery sign, we have to go through much fire to get purified. Moon in Pisces is considered beneficial, moon in Taurus is still good. Moon is exalted in Taurus: a clean and stable mind, an ability to reflect that which is above the earth. There is much poetry written about the beauty of the moon in Taurus. The moon in Taurus is a situation where we grasp things easily, quickly, and with clarity.

Sun in Taurus is like a bull that keeps moving in the village without any control, and it can walk around as it likes. You should come to India to see how bulls move on the streets. They can eat anything they like, they can straight away walk to the vegetable shop and then eat things there, no matter to whom they belong; there is no such distinction as mine and others. It is a higher philosophy of the bull. It does not carry distinction, which is also brought into the spiritual practices these days, anybody can enjoy anybody, and that is spiritualism, because it also carries a doctrine of equanimity.

We should know which virtue has to be applied where. The absolute lack of discrimination is a wonderful quality of the bull. Being an earthy sign, we have very fixed views as a bull. There is a saying in the East: “If a Taurus man holds a rabbit by the leg, he says, the rabbit has only three legs”. Catching the rabbit by one leg, he sees only the other three legs and says: “The rabbit has only three legs. I have seen it”. We try to tell him: “Baba, you are holding one leg in your hand”, but he says: “No, no, please don't tell me.” He does not see other possibilities; it is only mere sight he has, but no wisdom. From that state it is to be secured slowly.

For Taurus only the left eye functions. According to the occult understanding, the left eye is for sight, the right eye is for wisdom, and the third eye is for vision. What is physically seen through sight is only believed and nothing else; there is no such thing as imagination. He is such a fixed fellow about things, and his attachment to form is too strong. His hunger for things is very heavy and he is intimidating and blunt. These are all the things we carry with us in the beginning, which the Teacher sees in us. If he tells that we carry these things, he has the danger of being attacked. So he intelligently puts the disciple to a task where he himself realizes it. That is how the physically strong man called Hercules went through the labour of Taurus and secured himself.

To repeat once again, there are many more aspects in Taurus beyond the purification of Visuddhi. Around the Throat Centre we have all the seven higher centres. Note down the word 'around'; that means, in the region of the neck we have very sublime cosmic centres, where we can experience the nectar coming from the Pleiades. In fact, our solar system receives its nourishment from the Pleiades. Those of you who have studied the book “Esoteric Astrology”, by Alice A. Bailey, know that the Pleiades play the role of the Mother to our solar system; that means, the Pleiades supply the nourishment to our system, while the Great Bear plays the role of the Father.

In this labour it is not yet for Hercules to realize those aspects. He will once again come to Taurus. Even in the beginning the Teacher said: “All those things which we have left behind will come back again”. We have already left behind Taurus this year, but again we will meet it next year. If we have worked out some aspects of Taurus this year, we can take up the advanced steps in the next cycle. If we carry out the 12 labours in 12 months, what will we do later?

There is a cycle of Saturn-Jupiter, which is called -a cycle of 60 years. Five times we gradually work out one cycle of 12 years; only then the programme is complete. One cycle of 12 years gives us one initiation; and 5 cycles of 12 years, which are 60 years, will put us into advanced initiations, even up to the 5th initiation, according to our labour. That is the fastest growth that we can imagine. Of course, we are not that ambitious. We are presently concerned with the first round. The story of Hercules also reveals only the first round to us. In the next round we don't need to read stories. The stories are revealed from within; only the first round is the necessary exercise that we are going through.

We cannot speak of the experiences of Hercules vis a vis the Pleiades. We should carry the sense of proportion and quality; that is also an important divine quality of Taurus. Just because we land in Taurus, we cannot speak of Taurus up to the Cosmos. Taurus or the Visuddhi Centre in us has the possibilities to go up to the Cosmos. For the present we understand that we are securing our own being from the lower centres to Visuddhi through regular practice of conscious breathing, qualitative speech, qualitative food, and adapting to a process of purification of the tongue through rhythmic musical utterances. That is how we are gradually released from the form aspect. But still we are not in the sublime aspects; we have to go deep into our being. Now we have released ourselves from the form. That is the second labour.

Objectivity and Subjectivity

Having secured the bull, Hercules stood in the presence of the Master. After the previous labour, he was not in the presence of the Master. After controlling the mares he took rest, but after securing the bull, the taste of work was well realized by Hercules. This clearly shows that there is a transformation, resulting in the inclination for work in preference to the inclination for rest.

Thus, he stood in the presence of the Master for the next task, relating to the secrets of Gemini, where the power of mind, the fitness of mind in the context of Creation, and the dual aspect of mind ate to be well realized; that is, the subjective and objective side of mind.

As I said in the earlier sessions, the teaching relating to the subjective side is not normally given right from the initial years, as it is recommended to be given. Man is better off if he is simultaneously given the education relating to objectivity and subjectivity. The education policy of the ancients was like that, and hence, man used to work in the objectivity with a certain restraint, while he also worked in the subjectivity.

The work of Gemini becomes easier if these two aspects are well realized; otherwise there is a lop-sided development of mind which makes it very, very, very difficult in later years to orient the mind to the subjective side.

The Golden Apples

The Teacher cautioned Hercules that the next labour will be a bit strenuous. It concerns a labour where we get easily illusioned, where we get deceived, where we have to meet wily things, and where we have to face and overcome glamour. The Teacher said: “Go and fetch the golden apples from the tree of life, which are in a distant country. Be cautious, because the apples are guarded by three angels, and the angels are guarded by a serpent of hundred hoods. Make sure that you do not get deceived, and make sure that you do not get illusioned. To fetch these apples you shall have to pass through five tests”

The five tests represent the pentagonal aspect of the mind. Mind is the fifth principle, and all the five aspects of mind shall have to be well realized.

Hercules had heard even before about these three apples in his friends' circle. So he told the Teacher: “I am so happy that I am given this labour now. I shall work it out very quickly”. The Teacher replayed: “No, my son, don't be in a hurry. Work it out with patience. Proceed not at great speed, but at God's speed. God's speed is the speed that is allowed to you by time. Time has a programme for you; if you try to be early, you will miss, and if you try to be late, you will also miss. Meet time as it dictates. Respond to the situations as are offered to you through time. Don't try to be speedy. The labour requires patience”.

Hercules listened, and then started. He was not told where the tree was, except that it was in a distant land. He visited regions after regions on the planet, making, enquiry about the golden apples. Everyone told him: “We also heard of them, but we do not know where they are. People say that they exist, but we have no idea where they are.” So he went on and on, objectively, and got disappointed.

The Form of the Master

In the process of searching the fruits he became lonely, and gradually lost the presence of the Master. To remember the presence of the Master while at effort is a very tricky thing. We are more concerned about the task than about the Master's presence. However, the Master was compassionate and sent signals through messengers, but Hercules was not alert enough to capture them.

Normally we try to look to a form of the Master. Anything coming from his mouth is an order, but the Master has many mouths, and he can communicate through any form. If only we are alert, we can listen to our Master through our neighbour, we can listen to our Master through the cat and the dog in our house, we can listen to the Master through the chirping of the bird, we can listen to him through the wind, and also through the rain and through the clouds. Normally we understand the Master as one of the beings who are guiding us, but the Master is one who has overcome the form aspect, and hence he can work through any form and every form.

Lord Krishna told mischievously his disciple Uddhava (who was a mendicant that did not marry): “Even a prostitute can be a Teacher, my dear disciple”. Because to the disciple a prostitute is totally unacceptable, and this non-agreeability is always seen as a weakness by the Master. Lord Krishna said: “There are 24 varieties of Teachers, and through anyone of them I can communicate to you. You can listen to the tree and listen to ME, you can listen to the cow and the signals it makes through the eyes, and listen to ME through that. You can listen through any form, if only you are alert”. So you don't have to always ask for the same form, which you have decided that it should be your Master's form, because it is a habit we develop, and say: “This is my Master's form”. It does serve a purpose, but in advanced stages it causes a limitation. It is such a limitation that we refuse to listen to any other form. It is quite likely that we will listen to the Voice of the Silence through a form which is least expected by us. The Master tries to break our limitation relating to the form, which we carry about Him. That is why He tries to be playful with us by reaching to us through other forms.

In the case of Hercules also, he tried to reach the disciple through many other forms, other than his own form. Like any ordinary disciple, Hercules paid a deaf ear to the signals coming from the Master. It is only our own limitation.

We need to keep our eyes and ears very open to listen to the Master from any angle and from any form. You know, the beauty of the Master is that in the disciple the Master sees the Master! The Master does not see the, disciple; he sees the Master in the disciple, because to him no second thing exists except the Master. He is inseparable from the Master Consciousness. When he looks to a horse, a dog, a cat, a tree or a man, it is the same for him. First, he sees the Master Consciousness, and later he sees in what form it is present. When he sees a lady, first he does not see the lady aspect; he sees the Master Consciousness, and later sees that it is in the form of a lady. When he sees a donkey, first he sees the Master Consciousness and then sees that it is in the form of a donkey. Please, don't think that I am trying to equate the lady with the donkey; it is not my intention. It is just to show how the Master sees. To him everything is the Master presented in a particular form, and even the disciple is a form of the Master Consciousness to him. That is his outlook, but the outlook of the disciple is that he just fixes himself with a frame; he refuses all other frames and suffers from the limitation of that frame. The Master tries to see that the fellow breaks this frame, so that he is really, liberated.

The egg-shell is a protection to the chick within the egg up to a point. When the chick is growing, the very shell which was hitherto protective, becomes a limitation. The Master tries to break it, but the disciple refuses to get it broken. That is how Hercules also, like everyone of us, behaved. He could not receive the messages that were sent to him. The messenger came back to the Teacher and said: “He pays a deaf ear. What shall I do?”. the Teacher said: “We told him to be patient, and we have to be patient also. We should give him enough time till he looks into”.

Towards the South

Slowly, it dawned on Hercules that he should go to the South; it came to him just like a flash. Sometimes we also get such flashes that become true later. This very theme of Hercules is also a flash. While I was in a humorous mood, I said: “We can explain wisdom taking James Bond as an example; anything is okay to explain wisdom”. When I said James Bond, it was not so acceptable to the people around; so I said: “Let us have the James Bond of the Greeks, who is more acceptable”, and now we have the theme as a reality being worked out. Believe me, it was a flash that came in a humorous mood; that's all.

Likewise, Hercules had a flash. He least expected that there could be that kind of a tree he was searching for, in the South. He searched everywhere except in the South. From within the question arose: “Why not the South?” So he started moving towards the South.

Moving towards the South is symbolic. In the human being the North is existing at the upper back of head, the North-East is the hairline at the forehead, the East is the Ajna Centre, the West is the end of the back, and the South is the Heart Centre. The South is the region of compassion and love. “There is a big energy approaching our system from the South”; that is how it is said in the book of Master Djwhal Khul, and it is the energy of love. The Sanskrit word for South is Dakshina, which carries the energy of Dakshinya, that means, love and compassion. The South represents love and compassion, and Hercules turned towards that direction. The North stands for silence, the South stands for love and compassion, the East stands for wisdom and light, and the west stands for strength, according to the science of directions.

Moving In With Inhalation

When Hercules started moving towards South, he was moving towards love and compassion, for which there is a centre in his being. How do we reach the Heart Centre? We shall have to pick up the thread of respiration, catch up to inhalation and reach up to the heart region, then the exhalation throws us out. We, once again, try to get in and once again the exhalation throws us out. This is the fight we carry with respiration. Respiration is said to carry the hissing sound in the being. There is another being that has this hissing sound, and that is what is called the serpent, which is said to carry 100 heads. This is only to show how powerful it is when it throws us out. We want to get in, and it throws us out!

We try to get in with inhalation, but in the meanwhile a thought comes, and we are put away from conscious inhalation. This is what we experience in the beginning of the practice. We want to go consciously along with inhalation into the Heart Centre, but in the meanwhile some thought comes, and we are not going in with inhalation. This is because the mind is habituated to go out, but never to get in. That is why, to sit quietly closing the eyes, is a boring thing for many. What is the use? We just close the eyes, but we are moving all around. Meditation is more a farce than a reality; but for how long? As long as we don't make a habit of consciously moving in along with inhalation.

Once again Patanjali is right when he says: “Let the new habit form gradually. When once it becomes a habit, it is difficult to come out of it”. We make a habit of following inhalation and getting into the heart region. The deeper and deeper and deeper we go into our being through inhalation, respiration becomes external to us. To those who get into deep meditation, this is a reality.

All Is Relative

That which is interior in the beginning, becomes exterior. When we are on the road, the corridor of this hotel is interior to us, but when we are in this hall, the corridor is exterior to us.

What is interior, and what is exterior, is relative. What is objective, and what is subjective, is relative. Objective is objective to subjective, and subjective is subjective to objective. South is South to North, but by itself it is not South. North is North to South. Above is above to below. Below is below to above. This is one thing which one realizes gradually. All is relative.

When we stand here, this roof is above to us, but for the ones who are standing in the rooms above, it is below to them. So, what is above, and what is below? It is in relation to our positioning. The whole duality of existence is likewise relative. When we have walked in the interior, there is neither inhalation nor exhalation as two things; they are out we are in. If we have really experienced it, then we have got the fruit of meditation.

That is where Hercules is said to have lifted up the serpent very high and walked into. When he went deep into it, the serpent was in the exterior, far exterior to him. The respiration has become weaker. The truth of meditation is, if we get really into its fruition, there is no respiration, and if we go further deep into it, there is no pulsation also. Pulsation and respiration are interior to us because we are exterior to them. An Initiate lives in the interior, and hence, sometimes, we find that he is not respiring; thus people get the doubt that maybe he is dead, but he is not dead.

The State Of No Respiration

Many of you may have studied the book “Autobiography of a Yogi”, written by Sri Yogananda Paramahamsa, where there is one grand Master, called Lahiri. His grandson went to London and learnt medicine, and after he returned from London to Benares, he spoke to his grandfather about what he had learnt in London. The grandfather was merrily listening to the grandson, and the grandson was saying: “You know, in England we have to certify that a man is dead. Only then he is taken to the cemetery”. Hundred and fifty years ago, in India, there was no such thing as a doctor certifying that a man is dead. The grand Master smiled at the grandson and said: “How do you know that a man is dead?” The grandson replayed: “It is easy; I know”. Then Master Lahiri said: “You now tell me whether I am alive or dead, applying your science”. The grandson took the hand of the grandfather and tested the pulse, but there was no pulse, then he put his hand on the heart, but there was no heartbeat. He was surprised. He ran into his room, bringing the stethoscope and put it on the heart of the grandfather, but there was no movement. He thought that his grandfather had gone, and he was stunned. After a moment the grandfather said: “What is your opinion about my life and death?”, and the grandson was surprised. Then, the grandfather said: “It takes much more time for science to know about life and death”. He was able to instantly withdraw even beyond pulsation. It is at this stage an Initiate can permeate.

The permeation of an Initiate is not a mental ideation, it is a strain on the mind. We withdraw into the centre of our own Being, we absorb ourselves into the pool of the Oceanic Consciousness, and from that state everything is exterior. When we walk through respiration into pulsation, respiration is exterior to us. In that state of meditation we do not conduct any more respiration.

Respiration is active in proportion to the rate of thoughts that we produce. If we are anxious, there is more respiration; if we are angry, there is more manifestation of respiration; when we are frightened, there is more activity of respiration; when we are producing series of thoughts, there is a very fast beating or working out of respiration. The slower is the rate of production of thoughts, the slower is respiration. If there is a state of no thought, there is no respiration. As they meet, one neutralizes the other and puts us in equilibrium. When they diverge, they are too active, and when they converge, they reach the point of neutrality.

Merging Into The Source

At the beginning, while Hercules was moving towards the South, he met the serpent, and he recollected the teaching of the Master. His Master had cautioned him of this serpent, so he was happy to have met the serpent, because, if this serpent was there, behind it were the maidens, and behind them, the apples. So, for once, he felt he was in the right direction. He started working with respiration, till the hissing of respiration stopped. When he was exterior and the respiration was interior, the respiration was stronger than him. When he was getting interior, he found the respiration weaker than him. Through long years of practice he became capable of getting into the interior, and of holding out the serpent of respiration. He could go deep into the subjective being, and felt excited about his own accomplishment.

In that portal he found the wisdom that he felt interior, and that respiration was of no avail any more. He made two good steps so far, one was moving towards the South, another was working out with his respiration.

When we move towards the South or Heart Centre, the mind meets its own Source. As we meet our own Source, we have no more identity. It is like the wave meeting the ocean; what remains is the ocean, but it can come out once again as a wave. When the river joins the ocean, within the ocean there is no identity of the river, but it does not mean the death of the river. When the wave joins the ocean, it does not mean the death of the wave. Just like it is internalized, it also periodically gets externalized.

There is an ill-founded fear in the West that in the East people practice spirituality putting the mind to death. Please, be sure that there is no such thing as death of mind in that state. If we really fear the death of mind, we shouldn't sleep at all. What happens to our mind in sleep? Why do we sleep? Why are we not afraid of sleeping, since we know that it causes the death of mind?

It is the most irrational logic that I have ever met with spiritual practitioners in some parts of the globe. It is like going to the Source, but we can always come back. If we have moved into our bedroom, does it means we have ceased to exist in the house? We will again come out of the bedroom. It is a movement into the inner chambers, which is wrongly projected as the death of mind. In fact, the occult wisdom tells us that there is no

such thing as death of anything. What is there, is there forever. When once this understanding is gained, there is no fear of death, and much less the fear about death of mind. At best there can be disease of mind making us crazy. We are all entitled to that status. There can be disease of mind through lop-sided thinking and queer ideas.

Glamour

Hercules, by walking into the first of the inner chambers, had gained two steps, landing before the third step. He walked towards the South and overcame respiration. Now he started feeling that he knew things.

It is a glamour to which every disciple is put to. We have seen something which others have not seen. Seeing here is not by sight, but by realizing. When we start saying this and that, people start gathering around us and look at us as if we were already some great being. People start saying: “You are great” and we start believing: “Yes, maybe; why not?”

Hercules fell into the glamour, and therefore landed in the hands of a teacher who was full of such glamour. This teacher of glamour was called Busiris, and thereafter it was a daily sitting and speaking stories about astral things. Speaking about the Masters, sitting idly, taking to armchairs and saying: “Where, do you think, Master Morya is today? By the way, where is Master Koot Hoomi? I have heard that Master Hilarion is functioning in Eastern Europe. Is Jesus in the Alps or in Israel?” This is how questions are asked, and the man who is in the state of Hercules is in an embarrassing situation. If he says: “I don't know”, there is the danger of the followers leaving him. So he cannot say no, but he shall have to say something; anyway, there is no verification for what he says. In those matters we can say anything and get along, in so far as people believe us.

This game went on and on for a while, while the half-knowledged spiritual student is caught in his own glamour. There are enough idle people who gather around him and indulge in this kind of conversations, and the teacher wants to show his importance all the time. He must make sure that his people do not go to another teacher. That is the glamour for the disciples. Thus, such disciples start speaking big things, and as if this planet is not sufficient, they go beyond the solar system. They go to the Great Bear, the Pleiades, or Sirius, but if something really comes from such a source, we would be just blasted; that is all. We really do not need such a source. If a grand Master of Wisdom just manifests here, the whole thing will be blasted. We are such tiny little things that if we make three meditations, we already have burning headaches. There are a number of such situations where people come back and say: “Terrible headache!”; but it is a glamour that we speak about the high personages for nothing. We have no confidence in ourselves when we speak, and so we always have to quote: “Morya said like this, Koot Hoomi said like that, Djwhal Khul said like this”. This is how it is. Okay, they have all said, but what have we to say? Do we have anything to say or don't we have anything to do? We only quote their names and speak what we want. This kind of glamour runs for a while.

The teacher Busiris, in whose hands Hercules landed, was listening to all this trash. Hercules went on and on and on, till his glamour died out. Suddenly he recollected his Teacher. His Teacher never spoke to him such things; he never boasted about himself; he never told .Hercules what he was; he did not use names, and he did not engage in useless talks at all. He was only deeply concerned about Hercules, taking care of him like a father figure.

When the recollection of his Teacher came to Hercules, he felt in what kind of dirty situation he had landed himself. All his strength came back to him; so, he gave one hit to the teacher Busiris and left him telling: “Enough is enough. Thank you”.

It happens to all of us at a point of time. Especially when people around us start praising us, we should start asking them: “Whom are you speaking about?”. We should never own the praise; if we own it, we are dead for a while.

Hercules realized, and hence came out of the third test. He felt that much time had been lost because of this game, and he was repentant. Thinking of his Teacher who was so lovable and compassionate, tears started rolling down from his eyes, because he felt he had not been loyal to Him and had wasted time. Immediately he heard the voice of the Teacher: “No time is lost. You are in time”.

A real good Teacher never admonishes, because he believes in the free will of the disciple. He guides when he is looked to, but otherwise he waits. If he is ignored, he remains silent, and he will not carry ill-will towards the disciple, even if the disciple temporarily carries some ill-will towards him. It is a real beauty to see a Master functioning.

Thus, Hercules got encouraged, because the Teacher had said: “You have not lost any time. You are very much in time”. So, he moves on again. He had been to the South, and having conquered the serpent, he went to the West, but not to the West on our globe, because our West is also relative.

A Make-Believe World

Don't believe that you are Westerners. If we start believing, it becomes a reality. The whole thing is a make-believe world. There are many stories about the make-believe world. I will tell you one.

A man was carrying a goat on his shoulders, because the next day there was a good feast and he had to use it. Three intelligent men contrived, and they said: “We must snatch away this goat from him without causing pain”. When the man was walking with the goat on his shoulders, the first of the three approached him and said: “Oh, what a wonderful dog you have”, the owner of the goat said: “No, no, this is not a dog, this is a goat”, the stranger replayed: “Oh! It is a goat?! I thought it was a dog”, and by saying so he left. The man with the goat walked further. Then the second man approached by saying: “Why are you carrying the dog on your shoulders? Are his legs weak?” For the second time a man was calling the goat a dog! The owner of the goat got a doubt, and put the goat on the ground, looking at it once again. To him it looked like a goat, but the second stranger whom he met also was saying that it was a dog. There was some discussions, but the owner of the goat was convinced and said: “It is a goat only; it is not dog”. So he took it again upon his shoulders and walked further. Then came the third man and said: “What a beautiful dog. It is, such a nice dog. It is so nice. That is why you are not allowing it to walk isn’t' it?” The owner of the goat got a doubt: “Three men cannot be wrong. Everyone calls it a dog and I am thinking it is a goat.” Then a flash came to his mind: “Maybe this is a ghost, but not a goat, because to me it is appearing as a goat, but to others it is appearing as a dog”. So, at once, he threw the goat to the ground and left to his

house.

People coming from some part of the land call you Westerners. Westerners or Easterners are just facilities for transaction, but we cannot start believing them. That is how Hercules also learnt his lessons about these illusions, while he walked into the West. That is where we left the story.

Hercules walked to the South. Having conquered the serpent, he moved a little to the West and there he met a teacher who was full of astral energy. It is in the lower region of the back; it is not in Europe or somewhere else. When the Sacral Centre is disturbed, there is too much of astralism. That is what happened when he moved to the West unknowingly. Now he came out of the glamour and started walking with the encouragement of his Teacher.

Recapitulation

So far we have seen how difficult is the labour in relation to Gemini, as it is all about our own mind and its functioning, according to our previous habits. It was really a Herculean task for Hercules. He not only needed all his wisdom, but also the support of his Master to go through the illusions and glamours of the mind.

We have understood how, after wandering in the objectivity, and after neglecting the signs that were given to Hercules by his Teacher, through various agencies, and after getting desperate arising out of a flash, he walked to the South. He walked towards subjectivity, where he met the serpent of 100 hoods. We also understood how he overcame it by means of consciously respiring into his Being, thus making respiration exterior to himself, while to a man of objectivity respiration is interior to his Being. Thus he had gone further deep and rejoiced the ability to walk in. He landed in a state of glamour, and, in due course of time, the futility of the glamour that was entertained was also realized, consequently he overcame the teacher of glamour, and walked upon the Path by recollecting the Teacher, who had been guiding him through his Soul.

Prometheus

As Hercules walked swiftly further in search of the tree of the golden apples, he heard a cry. He was in two minds: “Should I stop for this cry or should I proceed ?” If he stopped, he might find some work there, and if he gets into that work, his work would get delayed. When he was thinking like this, the cry came out again very painfully. Since he was in the regions of the South, he could not but respond to the cry. So he moved towards the point where from the cry was coming.

Hercules was in two minds after listening to the cry, which is very common when we are working with the mind. For the mentally oriented being, there are always two possibilities suggested at the same time, and he has to chose with the power of discrimination. This is a big task for the one who is oriented towards the mind. It is necessarily a station that everyone has to pass through.

Thus, when the cry was heard, Hercules was in two minds, should he proceed on his target or should he look to the suffering being? As he thought in those lines, there was a second cry, which was much more painful. Then he decided to attend to the suffering one than to proceed further. When there is pain in the progress, better we stop for a while. It is Nature's indication that we shall give a pause.

There he saw a man chained on either side. His hands were not free, and the vultures were around his Solar Plexus, piercing into his liver, eating his liver and stomach. When Hercules enquired, the man who was suffering said: “I am Prometheus”.

The Churning Of The Ocean

The symbolism of Prometheus is very profound; it goes back to the root word of “Manta”. From “Manta” to “Pra Manta” and from “Pra Manta” to Prometheus. “Manta” is the original word, according to Senzar, and it stands for the process of churning, which is a clockwise and anti-clockwise movement alternatingly. To churn the butter we move a wooden rod to the left and to the right.

The vertical column is moved clockwise and anti- clockwise, which is represented by the pull towards the right and the pull towards the left. That is how we are pulled, as products of matter and spirit.

The story is only our story, as I said repeatedly. We are alternatingly pulled on either side. According to the effect of the pull, there is the pain. The churning cannot take place within our being if the pull to the right or to the left is unequal. Even the Creation is brought out of this churning. It is said that the Devas of Light and the Devas of Darkness started churning the Ocean of Milk with a massive vertical mountain called “Mantara”.

The Devas of Light and the Devas of Darkness took up to either side of time, which was represented by the serpent. The Mantara is a vertical mount pulled on either side with a rope, which is symbolically presented as a serpent. The Devas of Light are on one side and the Devas of Darkness are on the other side. The Devas of Darkness are on the side of the hood of the serpent, as they are the stronger ones, while the Devas of Light hold the tail of the serpent. There was a discussion as who should take up the head of the serpent and who should take up the tail of the serpent to churn the Milky Ocean with the mount Mantara. The Devas of Light were afraid of taking to the side of the hood, because it kept on emitting venom; but the Devas of Darkness were stronger and said: “You choose first, we will take the next”.

The Law Of Alteration

There are beings to whom light and darkness are equally good. After all, that which we call light is a product of darkness. That is why we find many who like light, but there are very few who can also like darkness. Those who like darkness are those who see the fitness of darkness. They easily understand that light cannot exist without darkness, just like inhalation cannot exist without exhalation, just like the day cannot exist without the night, and just like the full moon cannot happen without the new moon. The two are always there. There is no such thing as one being preferred to the other. It is a higher state of awareness where darkness and light are equally accepted.

Thus, they had no disagreement to hold on to any side that is given to them. Those are the ones who stand in synthesis; others can only speak about synthesis, but they cannot live in synthesis. The fitness of a volcano, the fitness of a deluge, the fitness of war, the fitness of an , atomic explosion can be understood only by the one who carries the energy of synthesis and the understanding of the work of the whole. There are some people who look to white-collar jobs, and they take pride in doing white-collar jobs. For example, standing on the stage like me, putting on a white dress, and speaking to people; but there are others who wash the dishes. Who is doing good work? If one says: “The one who speaks is doing good work”, he is not right. If another says: “The one who washes the dishes is doing good work”, it is also not right, but there is a third one who says: “Both are right”; that is synthesis.

There was a father who had four sons. The father was a man of wisdom. People were regularly visiting his house. One day he called his four sons and entrusted some jobs to them. The first son was asked to conduct wisdom classes and meditation courses, the second son was asked to cook and serve the visitors, the third son was asked to sweep and clean the house and wash the dishes, and the fourth son was asked to organise reception and lodging. The sons carried out the entrusted duties. In the community, the first son became very popular, the second son was somewhat popular, the third and forth son were not at all popular, but all the four are equally popular with their father. These are the sons that look for the father's appreciation but not for social appreciation.

The Devas of Darkness too work for the Father's appreciation but not for human appreciation. Synthesis is the backbone for all such dedicated service. To do what is to our comfort and ignore what is others' comfort is not synthesis.

In Creation also, between darkness and light there is no disagreement, the disagreement is in us, because we do not carry the right understanding. If there is disagreement, the law of alternation does not work. See, how rhythmically the new moon and the full moon happen, and how day and night happen, how things come into being and disappear into the Source. They are in perfect agreement with each other. It is only because we do not carry the right understanding, we see them to be opposing each other, There is no such thing as opposition in Creation; it is a seeming opposition for the play of it. If this group divides into two and plays a game, are we opponents to each other? It is not opposition; it is for the sake of play that we have taken to oppositions.

Within the football ground one team is in opposition to the other, but not outside. When once they are out of the football ground, the members of the opposing teams can be walking hand in hand. This understanding is very important. This is what is to be learnt by every disciple, without which it is impossible to walk into “the Cave of the Lion” or Leo, because the fitness of things shall have to be understood, instead of seeing something as acceptable and something as non-acceptable.

For the Devas of Light and the Devas of Darkness it is acceptable to take to positions and chum the Milky Ocean, and till date they are doing it; hence the Creation is functioning with the Law of Alternation.

If the Law of Alternation does not function, the whole, thing will collapse. A bird cannot, fly with, only one Wing; It needs the two wings. Just like the bird is flying in the air, the series of systems that we see, they are suspended in Space. That is why it is said that our globe has invisible wings, and likewise every globe. The wings are the left and the right wing; that is why the great bird Garuda is said to be carrying two wings, one nourishing the matter, another nourishing the spirit. One nourishing the work of the night, the other nourishing the work of the light, without which Creation is not possible. They see to each other as complementary. That is why the numbers 1 to 9, when they are numerically put and arranged in a fashion, they can be seen in their complementary aspect. The middle point or the middle number of the numbers 1 to 9 is 5.

(Fig. 1)

If there is a proper arrangement in our being, the nine numbers which seem to be independent of each other, they supplement each other, with number 5 as the middle point.

4 + 6 = 10, 3 + 7 = 10, 2 + 8 = 10, 1 + 9 = 10.

Number nine, however big, it cannot be ten without number one. Number nine may feel: “I am the biggest of the numbers”. In a very big aeroplane, if a small bolt is missing, it cannot fly. The smallest bolt can make the biggest rocket wait for a while. So, how can we ignore, saying: “this is small, this is big, this is good, this is bad?”

The Story Of The Rat And The Lion

Once a rat was being chased by a cat. The rat took refuge in the lion, and the cat could not dare to come near to the lion. The rat felt grateful to the lion, as it was saved by him. The rat carried a lot of sense of gratitude and told the lion: “Thank you for saving my life. One day, I will also save you and thus repay my debt to you”. The lion smiled at the rat and said: “You are the one that will save my life? What are you talking?” the rat replayed: “Please, do not take me for small. I may look small, but God has invested in me a skill which you don't have. I will save you one day, God permitting, not to show my capability, but to repay the debt”. The lion thought that the rat was mad, and not paying attention to, what the rat said, replayed: “Get lost. Don't talk too much”; so the rat left.

In due course of time, while the lion was moving in the jungle, he walked into a difficulty. People conceived ways and means to catch a lion for the circus; so he was caught in a net, and thought: “I am gone”. He started imagining the horrible life he will have from the next day onwards. Then came the rat, and with its teeth it cut off the fibre of the net and saved the lion.

Unfortunately these stories are taught to us in the kindergarden, but they are really for advanced studies, very advanced studies. Anything can save anyone in this Creation. We are not complete even if the smallest thing is neglected. “Anything we neglect, neglects us”, that is an occult statement. Anything we negate, negates us. We negate almost 50% of Creation, and hence we have to suffer in the other 50%. We can never be complete unless we can completely accept, and completely include. That is what we should learn in the name of synthesis; otherwise the synthesis remains in the book, and we only keep looking at it. Synthesis means including every possibility as it approaches us. We cannot say: “I don't have time for this”; later we may have to repent and look for it. If any single member in this group is neglected, to that extent there is no synthesis.

I shall give you another story, because this Prometheus is a very important concept.

The Story of the Missing Brick

There were some grand masons who were building a temple. They fancied themselves to be the best masons, as they were able to cut the brick well. One day, while they were so building, one funny and queer-looking fellow came to them with a brick.

You know, the masons are very serious-minded people, just like the spiritual students. Spirituality is a very serious business for some people, and if they smile they feel that they have sinned. If they watch television they feel that they have sinned; and much less they go and see a football match. If we ask a serious spiritual student: “Shall we go to Brazil and see a football match in the Maracana stadion?” to him it is a horrible thing to listen. Likewise these masons, they were serious-minded, and they had too much knowledge about brick preparation. Then one day came one ugly strange-looking fellow with a barb, not well dressed, unknown in the society and the social circles. I wonder if any Masonic lodge would accept such a person who is socially not known, undressed, uncouth, unmannerly - apparently. They take a socially well-dressed man inside the Masonic lodge and they dress him out. The man went with the brick to the masons, and the serious masons said: “Please, don't come near. This is not your place to work”. He tried to explain that this brick would be needed for the temple, but the masons had no time even to listen to him.

We mostly go by appearances. We cannot accept an Initiate coming in jeans. Why not? Why should he not wear a Jean pant? We have an idea about Initiates that they should have a beard, wear white robes, and move in a very slow fashion. These are all our views about them, but no Initiate lives according to others' expectations. If a fellow lives like that, he is a slave, but never a Master. A Master lives according to his style, but not according to others' expectations about the style.

When this fellow came with a brick, the masons neglected him. When the temple was built, they ultimately found that they needed a particular brick of a particular dimension. They tried to prepare it, but they could not. They tried to search for it here and there, but they could not get a brick of that dimension. There was one sensible fellow in the group of masons and it occurred to him that one day somebody came with a brick; then he told the group: “Look here, one fellow came with this kind of brick which we neglected. I think, that was the brick which would suit for the completion of this temple”. They wanted to know where that queer strange-looking person was, but it was difficult, because he was not socially known. A socially known person can be very easily identified even by the police. If we project too much of our identity into the society it is also dangerous.

The Master who carried the brick knew that it is better he lives incognito than cognito. Every Master lives like that only, otherwise it is a big nuisance to him. Thus, they went in search for him. They searched and searched for 12 years, and ultimately found him in a very unimpressive surrounding. They asked: “Are you not the one who came to the temple with a brick? Where is that valuable brick?” (now it is valuable). Then the fellow answered: “I have a brick, but I don't have valuable bricks. There is no such thing as a valuable brick and a brick”. They replayed: “Baba, excuse us, that brick, whether it is valuable or not, do you have it?” He answered: “Maybe; somewhere in the surroundings it must be”. The brick was kept underneath his kitchen equipment. He was using it as a support for his vessels to cook things for him. They collected the brick, and it exactly suited to complete the temple!

Please, remember the story of the rat and the lion, the story of the numbers, and the story of the man with the brick all the time, if, and only if you wish to work with synthesis. Otherwise it is only a tall talk about it.

The Double Character

Here is a man who is bound on either side. He is bound because sometimes he negates THIS, and sometimes he negates THAT. A man who negates THIS, is bound, a man who negates THAT, is bound. Do we know what is THIS and what is THAT? It is all THAT we see as the world. Some people fancy about THAT and neglect THIS, and some people are indulging in THIS, and hence they neglect THAT. That is the difficulty of Gemini, and that is also the solution through Gemini. The problem and the solution are always together. So, if we have a problem, it means, it has a solution. There can be no problem without solution.

There can be no question without answer; they coexist. This coexistence is what is to he realized; otherwise, what happens? It has an effect on our stomach. The man who negates has problems in the stomach. This is the secret of health relating to the stomach. People who care too much for light and hate too much darkness have problems in the stomach. Likewise, when we have hatred for people, we have problems in the stomach. If we hate anyone, the one whom we hate starts working in our stomach. If I don't like a particular member in this group, and he or she encounters me in the prayer hall, in the dining hall, in the corridor, not with a purpose, but casually, that casual meeting is what is arranged by time. The very look at that person makes me feel a discomfort in the stomach, it starts eating my stomach, and slowly the liver is affected.

If we go through the book “Esoteric Healing”, by Alice A. Bailey, we have these clues in it, like what affects our stomach, what affects our spleen, what affects our pancreas, what affects our joints, what affects our heart. The causes which the doctors give are peripheral. I am not saying that they are incorrect, but they are peripheral. The causes are very much in our behaviour.

In Hercules there was still the double character, something he accepted, and something he negated. He had the task given by the Teacher on one side. Should he go into the task or should he attend to this fellow who is suffering?

Swinging from one Side to the Other

As far as we are concerned, should we attend to someone who is sick at home or should we go to the seminar on Hercules? We neglect the sick and. come to the seminar on Hercules; but Hercules found the task as secondary, and serving the one who is suffering as primary.

If we neglect that which is our immediate duty in the name of something not known as yet, it only eludes us. This is the crossroad at which we are every time in life. If we listen to the stories of the Initiates, we find that for the sake of one good man, a million people are also saved. For the sake of saving one Soul, we can sacrifice everything. If there is an immediate duty which seems to prevent us from the so-called spiritual work, we better attend to it and let the other thing wait. In truth, there is no such thing as a non-spiritual work. That is what is to be learnt; if not, for our excessive functioning on one side, we are pulled excessively to the other side in due course of time. If we pull the pendulum of the clock too much on one side, it equally moves so far on the other side in due course of time. We cannot have this kind of pull and push all the time. Each time we push we are pulled, and each time we pull we are pushed. That is why it is said that every high spiritual activity is followed by a calamity. Of course, our calamities are very little ones, like when we go back home, there would be an unpleasant letter from our boss or our better half is complaining because we are too much engaged only with one half as we come home jubilant from the seminar. There will be other things waiting, at home for us and we shall have to attend to them without complaint. Even If we complain, no one will listen to it. We have to take it and work with it.

This swinging from one side to the other, as if there is spiritual work and material work, makes us suffer. If we have this “compartmentalisation” in us, there is no such bifurcation. If we go to the abstract science of “Theos”, there is no division of spirit and matter. The moment we divide, we are divided; it is the division we make that makes us divided. They are the two seeming opponents of the ONE only. If we have a Swiss Franc, the obverse and reverse together make the Swiss Franc. This concept should go very deep into our being. We make the division for purposes of understanding, but there is no such division. We make a division of this globe with the equator, but there is no such line drawn on the planet, as if there is an upper hemisphere and a lower hemisphere divided by a line. We only do it for purposes of our understanding, but there is no such dividing line on the globe, just like there is no dividing line that marks East and West. There is neither vertical division nor horizontal division. For the limited purposes of understanding we presume them; that is the hypothesis. We cannot take the hypothesis as the Truth; it only helps us to reach the Truth.

Approach Without Bias

This is the understanding which awaits the people of Gemini. That is the threshold at which almost everyone stops, because they divide things and then work for them. Please don't think that it is only for those who are born in Gemini. Everyone of us has Gemini. If we do not have Gemini we have no neck, and when there is no neck, there is no place for the head. These are the things that exist with us, and we shall have to see their fitness for functioning. Like Prometheus, we are chained on either side, because we are at one side or at the other of them, alternatingly with a bias.

For example, if a group member serves a stranger more than his own family member, this is glamour. We can serve our family members as well as we serve the group members. If we don't serve anyone it is another aspect, but we cannot neglect the family in the name of service to the society, because the family is also part of the society. We cannot neglect smaller duties in the name of larger duties; all are duties. Let there be an approach without bias. We want to serve the sick, so we serve the sick at home also. If one is trying to serve the sick outside but not at home, it means he is after name and fame. If one is trying to be dutiful to people outside, without being dutiful to his own people, it means, he is after name and fame. Then he is walking on slippery ground, and Truth will not embrace him.

The whole life is spiritual; that is the understanding one should carry. The whole life, that is, the family life, the vocational life, and the social life it is all within the spiritual life, and not outside. This makes man balanced and he gets centralised. If we are not centralised and we develop bias to one side, please note, we will have in due course of time bias for the other side. That which we neglect today, we shall have to attend tomorrow. That which we ignore today, we shall have to recognize tomorrow. That is why the two currents with the pull towards the right and the left are well conducted to keep the mountain intact, and so it is well suspended. That mountain is represented by the vertebra in us, in which we have all the energies flowing. It should be put to an equi-pull to the right and the left alternatingly; otherwise we have problems.

Hercules Meets Atlas

Hercules has attended to this problem, overcoming ;J the conditioning of the right and the left. That is what is symbolically represented as releasing Prometheus. If I Prometheus is released, he can do wonders. It means that I the Light in the column is now free to function. That is the Light which should function, and it is kept chained on account of our leftist and rightist activities. If the leftist and rightist activities are balanced, then it is the central column that becomes active. When the central column is active, we can move up and down with facility. That is how Hercules met Atlas. Unless Prometheus is released, there is no chance of meeting Atlas. We are all students of occult anatomy and normal anatomy, and we know where in the vertebra Atlas is.

Thus, we can reach Atlas only when we have released Prometheus! When we meet Atlas, we see him holding the worlds, and this is another aspect which we see in life. Even while we grow upwards in terms of our awareness, our responsibility towards the world continues to remain, and that is what Atlas is demonstrating. In spite of being very strong with Light, he is in the system, helping the system. The first thing a spiritual student normally does when he walks into spirituality is to neglect the duties that he has towards the society.

To Serve and not to Get Served

Groups are like the solar systems, one should work in co-operation with the other. One cannot say: “From today I don't have to co-operate, because I am spiritual”. Does it not look very paradoxical? The more we are spiritual the more we work for the system. It is not walking away from life and getting irresponsible, living as vampires on others. Many spiritual leaders are a load on others.

The true student bears the load, but he does not shed his load on others. This is another inversion that happens. Normally, when a man is getting recognition, he tries to shed his load on others. If others are willing to serve him, he should be more careful to serve them. An Initiate does not receive service from those whom he does not serve. That is what Jesus Christ also taught his disciples in the Last Supper by washing their feet, as he was about to depart and his disciples would be regarded as Masters in the society. They should remember that they have to serve, but not to get served. The service aspect is very well demonstrated even by Atlas. If we follow a Master who is not holding responsibilities, we also tend to be irresponsible. The false teacher tells: “Leave the family, leave the vocation, come to me with all your money”.

Leaving the family means to leave the idea about the family and substitute it with the idea of I AM Consciousness. The whole thing is in that Pool of Consciousness. What is it that we have to leave? It is only our idea about it. We can leave our idea of wife and live with the lady who is considered to be our wife, and likewise regarding the husband. We can leave the idea of our own children. We say: “My own children, my own house”; it means, we are taking an extra load for nothing. Leave the idea, but live with people. Leave the idea of your own children, but live with the children; it is so beautiful! Don't leave responsibilities, but keep working with responsibility. Do not move like comets, but move like planets. Comets cannot accommodate beings, but planets do.

Teaching by Demonstration

This is a point at which every spiritual student tends to get away from the system, thinking that all this is karma, as the very word karma is not understood. Karma means action, and action is not avoidable, but if we have motives in action, it is another story. Karma cannot be avoided, but motives can be avoided. If we are doing some responsible work, and feel that we are doing a responsible work, the feeling makes the responsibility heavy, otherwise the responsibility makes us joyous. Atlas is holding the worlds with joy. He is not complaining: “Look here, I am holding such a heavy load for so long”.

Hercules was inspired by Atlas who was a great Initiate. Atlas, while fully realized, was in full responsibility. The more we realize, the more we are in responsibility and not getting away from it. The duties remain. The threefold duties, which are the domestic, the vocational, and the social, remain, but we don't feel the heaviness of them, instead, we feel the playfulness of them. That is why a Teacher who demonstrates, is a good Teacher. It is said by the Great Ones: “The one who lives on his own and becomes a shelter for others is a good Teacher”. He is not only self-dependent, but is also dependable for others. If a Teacher is a dependent, it means, he is not a complete Teacher.

Atlas did not cry out because of the heaviness of his responsibility, like Prometheus. Hercules saw Atlas holding responsibility with a smile. That is what exactly Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavata Gita: “People follow what you do. They do not follow what you teach”. Let our demonstration in life be the teaching instead of giving seminars. In 126 years Lord Krishna did not hold a single seminar of wisdom. He did not speak from the mountain tops at any time, nor did he conduct any yoga classes. His life was complete action from the beginning till the end. The only single teaching he gave was when his candidate suddenly got into depression. Arjuna, his disciple, who was to fight a war for the Law, suddenly said: “I am dropping”. It is as if the most important player in the football team at the moment of the game says: “I am sorry, I don't want to play”. Lord Krishna asked: “Why?, why don't you play?”, and Arjuna replayed: “My grandfather is playing on the other side; how can I play from this side?” So, Lord Krishna had to give to his disciple a bit of wisdom.

Normally, if we discourse on the Bhagavata Gita, it takes us a minimum of one year, but amidst the war the others do not wait till he completes his seminar of 18 chapters. The opponents would not go back from the battle field and say: “Krishna is giving some teaching. We will come back later for the war”. The whole teaching was given in a nutshell, perhaps in 18 words, 18 seeds; not even 18 sentences. When these seeds were tried to be explained by another Initiate, Veda Vyasa, it became 700 verses. Among those 18 seeds, one seed is: “Demonstrate; don't make vocal teaching”. People happily listen and comfortably forget that which is taught, but they definitely do what we do.

If we speak from platforms and do not act, they also speak from platforms and do not act. Many parents tell their children: “You should not smoke”; while they themselves are smoking, they tell them so. Then the child also picks up a cigarette and tells in turn to another: “You should not smoke”. When you are a smoker, you have no right to tell your child that it should not smoke. One has j to demonstrate the wisdom; mere speaking never inspires. This is the seed given in the Bhagavad Gita, and this is the seed demonstrated by Atlas; hence Hercules was inspired and he volunteered to share the burden of the world.

Holding The World

In the process Hercules forgot about all those apples! When we are into such a sublime situation, there is no such thing as seeking some goals. Even while on the Path we are getting fulfilled, so, where is the need to go to the goal? He was so happy seeing Atlas holding the worlds, just like a Teacher holding his domestic, vocational, and social responsibilities. The Teacher holds them not because he is conditioned by them, but because it is how it should be. If Atlas did not hold the worlds, no one would go and ask him: “Why have you ceased to hold them?” In the Higher Realms it is the free will that functions. For the pleasure of it, for the joy of it, Atlas is holding the worlds.

In Space through time we are entrusted with certain things. Time keeps bringing us certain things; we should not run away from them, we work with them with joy, and that is what is called holding responsibilities or holding the world. Time is an excellent distributor of duties, it keeps giving us what we need for the moment, and it withdraws from us that which we don't need for the moment. We should accept that which time entrusts us with, and work with it.

That is what is demonstrated in the life of Atlas. Hercules was inspired and said: “Shall I share with you?” Atlas was happy that there was one fellow who wanted to share with him. It is not sharing breakfast and lunch, but sharing work! Atlas asked: “Would you like to?”, and Hercules replayed: “Yes”. Then Atlas said: “It is very heavy, do you know?” Hercules replayed: “I don't bother. When you are holding, why can't I?” The spirit of Hercules was acceptable to Atlas.

Sharing Responsibilities

If we are holding some responsibility. and some others come and ask: “Shall we share?”, then we immediately feel the relief and dump it on him, because we feel heavy. If we rejoice the responsibility, we hesitate to share. We don't share breakfast, we share work, because that which we rejoice we don't want to share, and only that which we feel heavy is what we want to share. We have to make sure that the other can hold it, and only then we can pass it on. There is a responsibility in passing on duties. We just cannot pass on duties to a child, only because it has asked: “Shall I also participate?” We must see whether it is able to hold it or not. Please, see how in the first labour Hercules irresponsibly delegated his duties to the lower self. Such things will not happen with persons like Atlas. The difference lies in the awareness. He made sure that Hercules could hold it, and then he passed it on. As Hercules took the load upon him, he was expecting that it would be very heavy, but as he took up the responsibility, he did not feel any heaviness. It was as if it was not on his back. He was surprised!

This is another truth which we have to realize. The feeling of responsibility is very heavy, but responsibility as such is never heavy. The feeling makes it heavy. For the one who acts, it is not heavy, because if it is heavy he will not act. Mostly we live in a world of feelings, but not in the world of action. When someone is doing a hard job we feel: “Oh, it must be very hard”. To us it is hard, but not to the one who is doing it. This is the secret of responsibility. Since there is no such thing as heaviness in responsibility, those whom we worship on the altar have assumed tremendous responsibility. There is the statement of a Master, who says: “We walk into greater responsibility along with greater measure of Light”. Greater measure of Light and greater responsibility coexist. More Light and more irresponsibility are incompatible.

Hence Hercules, as he took up the responsibility, did not find the heaviness at all. For a moment he has relieved a Master from his work, and the Master is so compassionate that he does the work of Hercules! In these small events there is deep wisdom. If a Man of Wisdom is relieved from his task, he brings us much more Light by continuing to be responsible. As I said, Light and responsibility do coexist. When Atlas was relieved from the load of the worlds, he did not take rest. Normally, if someone takes our load, we go to the bedroom and rest, because we have a 'feeling' of responsibility, but what did Atlas do? The moment he was released from the world, he looked to some other responsibility, and he immediately fetched the golden apples for Hercules. If we have to serve, it is better we serve someone like Atlas, because he will help us in our tasks. Hercules was least bothered about the apples in the process of his helping Prometheus and sharing some work with Atlas.

When we are working for a goal, it is like a mirage. Normally it moves two inches or two feet ahead of us; it seems to be within the hand reach, but as we move, it also moves. But if we forget the goal and recollect our duty, that which we are seeking will come to us. That is how it happened with Hercules. We can also try. We consult ourselves about the immediate duty without looking for a further result, because: “there is no such thing as far away”. It is just there. We only have to mind about our immediate business.

The apples were fetched by Atlas, and with a smile he put them in the hands of Hercules. What a pleasant. situation. For a long, long, long time he had been searching for these apples, and now someone came and gave them to him. It was such a relief. He had been working so much, moving here and there. Instead of our reaching the apples, the apples reach us. That means, when we are in action with responsibility the results come to us; we don't have to work for them.

There are many secrets of action revealed in this part of the story. As the golden apples came to him, he was delighted. He did not anticipate such a happening. As if it was not enough, the three ladies walked up to him and placed in his hands some more apples. That means, the task was abundantly fulfilled. The three ladies said: “We are very happy with you, hence we have come to bestow these apples on you. You have realized what is pain and how to share pain with Prometheus. You have volunteered to serve along with Atlas. We wish you well in your further path. Keep serving and always recollect this aspect of service in life. Remember to share, remember to serve. Things will come to you”. That is how Hercules learnt his lesson.

The Teacher was happy, the student too was happy, because the task was well done and he had overcome the polarities of Gemini. The lateral sense was neutralized. So the wisdom has become his.

On the high arch of Emperor Seth, the wisdom was engraved on it. It has become his, because he was not with either of the two pillars of the arch, but with the high wisdom. He realised the fitness of the alternating currents, the seeming opposite currents functioning in Creation. Wisdom dawns only on such people. Wisdom does not visit those who always divide things into light and darkness, those people have a kind of wisdom which is confusing to them and to those who are around them. Wisdom visiting us is different from our running after wisdom. The Teacher visits us, the wisdom visits us, everything splendorous in this Creation visits us, if only we mind our duty. If we develop an expectant mind, we create a barrier for their reaching us, in as much as our expectant mind puts us away from our present duty. That I is what comes in the step of Cancer.

The Reflection

In the next labour Hercules was asked to fetch the dove and restore it to the temple of the Lord.! Thus, once again he was on work. On the way he met the Lunar Angel, namely the Lunar Light or the ones who carry clarity of mind. He also met a daughter of the Solar God, the Solar Angel. Both of them said: “That white dove belongs to me”.

When wisdom is dawning on us, does it belong to the mind or does it belong to the Light of the Soul? The Light of the Soul said: “The dove is mine”. The Light of the mind also said: “The dove is mine”, and in the presence of Hercules both of them were fighting. The higher mind and the lower mind, that is, the Lunar Light and the Solar Light, were saying: “Wisdom is mine”. Hercules asked: “What is this? Everywhere we find two things, and they fight with each other”.

It is true. In Creation there are two things, and they should seemingly oppose each other. In the meanwhile he heard a voice who said: “Hercules, my dear son, it does not belong to either of the two. It belongs to “ME”. It was the Solar God himself saying that. Unless there is the Solar God, there is no Solar Light, and unless there is Solar Light there is no Lunar Light which is the reflective Light. Even the Solar God we see, is a reflection of the Central Sun, who himself is a reflection of the Pure Existence. So, nobody can say: “It is mine”.

If on a full moon night everyone of us carries a silver pot or a golden pot filled with water. Let us carry according to our ability a solar pot or a lunar pot, that is, the golden cup or the silver cup. We go up the peak and expose the cups of water to the moon. The light of the moon and the moon will be reflected in everyone's cup. We look at the reflected moon and say: “My moon”, our friend says: “No, no, my moon. See, here it is”. Everyone is saying: “my moon”, but it is nobody's moon. We are trying, to take that which is reflected as ours. What will the moon think in the sky? He gets confused and asks: “To whom should I belong?”

Wisdom is an inseparable aspect of the Solar Angel, the Soul; it is the Light of the Soul. The inferior states of existence cannot claim them to be theirs, but in fact they live upon them. The concept of 'mine' is very high in Cancer because of the principle of reflection

causing the illusion.. It is reflected and it seems to be ours. Nobody can say wisdom is his; at best we can say we belong to wisdom, if it is so. Wisdom belongs to nobody, such is the understanding of the High Ones, and when they gave out wisdom, they did not inscribe their names on it. They were only reflecting the wisdom which was already there. When we cannot possess wisdom, we cannot possess anything.

The Permeation

The truth which we have to realize to overcome the conditioning of Cancer is that everything is reflected as if it is ours; but nothing is ours; we are allowed to be with it, but it does not mean it is ours. We say: “My house, my children, my family, my profession”, and we are seeing it as something different from us, hence we start possessing it as if it is something other than us. When we are really in wisdom we are permeating. The ultimate wisdom makes us realize that everything is in us. Do we ever recollect that which is inside us as: “This is my own?” We do not think in terms of “my liver”, unless it starts troubling us. We do not recognize the liver, the lungs, or the heart, unless they trouble us. When there is heart trouble, we think about the heart, otherwise, do we ever think of the heart?

The Concept of Mine

That which is in us we don't have to separately acquire or to entertain the feeling that 'it is mine'; that feeling is not necessary at all. The ultimate wisdom makes us feel that everything is in 'ME'. That is the secret of the ninth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, which says: “All beings are in ME, and I AM in them”; that is how it is said. There is no such thing existing exterior to us, which we need to acquire or possess. It is only our feeling about 'mine' that has to be overcome. The thought that has to be entertained is that everything belongs to HIM and nothing belongs to us; even we belong to HIM. The body that is given to us is HIS body, but not our body. If it were our body, we should have the ability to hold on to it forever. It is given and taken, and when it is given we cannot say: “It is mine”. It is given; hence we have to live with it, and, understanding the fitness of it, work with it and experience the Existence. That is how it is.

For example, we say: “I have a big property in . Buenos Aires. It is my property”. It is our property, but every time we have to cross the Atlantic to go to it. It does not come to us; we have to go to it. Who is the master? We are slaves of the property that makes us pay for crossing the Atlantic every year. At every visit we find that something needs to be repaired. So, we spend money, clean the house, keep a guard for the house, and pay for it. We have become a slave of that property and we say that we are the master of it!

The instinct to possess is age old. We wish to possess as much as possible. This comes from the Atlantean times. The instinct extends to possess even that which is not lawfully ours. The concept of ownership is unreal from the spiritual standpoint, but from the worldly standpoint there is what is called ours and others' Today the human instinct extends to possess what is others' as ours; that means, the illusion is stronger. Intelligent thieving of others' wealth and others' property is mostly the modem human activity. People conceive ideas to grab, to hold, and even to hoard. The whole Mahabharata was arising out of a group of four contriving to deceive a group of 5 of their wealth and power. The great conquests of Alexander or Napoleon carry behind the instinct to possess.

The Creation itself is build upon this instinct, but to live within the Creation the instinct to own, to possess, needs to be put under some restraint. Wisdom tells us that all belong to the ONE and the one in possession of a thing, animate or inanimate, is entrusted by the ONE to hold it for divine purposes and not for selfish purposes.

These are the inversions we suffer on account of the feeling of 'mine' that we entertain in our own being. 'My property, my people, my place, my language, my thoughts.' It is not our thought. If we were the masters of our thoughts, then they should come according to our proposal. Many thoughts come to us, even if we don't want them, and the more we don't want them, the more they appear to us. The moment we start owning, we have the reversion, and we grow upside down. It is like saying that the moon in the silver cup is mine, but he moment a cloud appears in the sky the moon disappears in our cup; nevertheless the moon is still there, though it is not there with us. Thus, one cloud can take away the property.

Through time, things come and go. There is no such thing as holding on to them through our umbilical cord. The umbilical cord symbolically or astrologically is referred to in Cancer, through which we try to hold things in the objectivity. The fourth house is Cancer, which is the mother aspect, and has its baser aspect as owning things. This happens even in the Higher Realms.

Thus, the Lunar Light and the Solar Light also started saying: “Wisdom is mine”. The real understanding is that it belongs to the ONE from whom everything came out. Trusteeship is what is needed. Ownership is an illusion in Creation.

The Story of Being a Trustee

There is an interesting story in the higher degrees on Masonry. A group of humans where living amidst a forest and they used to live by the forest products and sleep in the caves. They did not know how to cook and eat nor how to build houses and live therein. In due course of time a man came from far-off lands they say from the East, meaning, from the regions of Light and Wisdom and started building a house, gathering mud; preparing bricks, gathering wood, preparing doors and windows. He prepared the house and started living therein. The group in the forest observed, and slowly they gathered around the stranger and asked: “Can we enter?” He smiled and said that they may enter. Then, after a few days, when it was raining heavily, they came back and said: “It's raining cats and dogs; our caves are filled with water, and we have no food to feed us and our children. Can we stay and eat with you in your house?” The stranger said: “Yes you may stay, eat and rejoice”. They came in lock, stock and barrel and settled in the palacial house. The stranger did not object; he rejoiced witnessing their joy.

A few months passed by. The stranger, one day told the group that he was leaving on some work, that he would return after awhile and wanted them to take care of the house. The tribals agreed and started living therein as if it were their own. After a few months, the stranger returned and asked if he could get in. The tribals said: “It is your house; you may enter”, and he was shown a comer to stay.

Again, after a few months, the stranger went to far-off places during one year and then came back. The tribals refused his entry, saying that he should have come with prior notice, and that it is difficult to suddenly accommodate him. The stranger smiled and went away to return after a few years. He saw the tribals dividing the house with mud walls, and living in tiny little rooms without much light and ventilation -(like our modem flats!?). He asked the tribals if he could step in, and they said: “These are tiny houses within the house. We are ourselves suffocating. There is no room for you!

The stranger was not surprised, having come from the East, and he said: “Alright, you say the house is yours. I will take only one brick from it with me as a sweet remembrance”, and the tribals agreed. Then the stranger removed the original foundational brick. Even before he did so, the house started collapsing. The tribals came running to him, kneeled down and said: “Please, do not do so; the house is yours, and you allowed us to live in. If you leave with this brick, we will collapse”. The stranger smiled and taught them the doctrine of trusteeship, instructing them never to be the owners! Cancerians need to cross the threshold of 'ownership'.

When we grow in wisdom we make the first understanding that everything belongs to the One Source, by whatever name we may call it. The second understanding, which is more advanced, is that it is in us also; hence there is no such thing as possessing it separately, and as we permeate, everything is found in us. We don't have to separately acquire it.

Holding the Dove Tenderly to the Heart

That is how Hercules realized. In the beginning he also ran after the dove, and then, almost at the end of the labour, it dawned on him that by permeation he could include the dove in him and hold it in the heart. It is that permeation which is symbolically said as the release of the arrow given to him by Apollo. He released the arrow and reached the dove, holding it to the heart. Remember that the, arrow symbolically represents the Individual Soul. Releasing the arrow through the bow is already explained as the release of the Individual Soul through the utterance of the Sacred Word. We have known this through the Upanishad.

Hercules resorted to the utterance of the Sacred Word to permeate. In such permeation he reached the dove of wisdom. Wisdom unfolds the heart and reaches the head. Hercules was humble enough to hold it in the heart tenderly, but did not take it to the head. To take it to the head makes us headstrong; to hold it in the heart keeps us cool, tender and humble. Had Hercules taken the dove of wisdom to the head, the dove would have disappeared. For that very reason he should be understood to have held it tenderly near the heart.

Further, to restore anything to the Temple, the heart is the gateway. The head is the gateway into the objectivity. The heart is the gateway into the subjectivity. Through the heart we can embrace anything and everything without owning it, without possessing it. Love that possesses is baser love. Love that enables others to live, is pure love. It is this release of love that enabled Hercules to permeate to reach up to the dove. That is why the story says, he tenderly held it near his heart and walked towards the Temple of the Lord to restore it. All that is given to us should be hold tenderly in our heart, and then, ultimately, handed over at the feet of the Lord in the Temple, being J grateful that it has been given to us: All is given, and we I are not the owners of that Which is given to us. The owner is ONE who permeates as all. In so far as we have not realized this, let us remain in the secondary step of , understanding that all belongs to HIM and it is HIS grace that enabled it to remain with us. If wisdom is reflected, it is HIS grace. If angels remain around US, it is HIS grace. Did we not see that it was the grace of the Teacher that enabled the angels to gather around Hercules?

The Feeling of Oneness

Another labour Hercules learnt was that he did not need to possess, but feel that it was part of him. It is a feeling of oneness without possession. A love that demands is no love. A love that enables free functioning is the real love. To live in love is different from 'to love'. To love is a personal act, to live in love is living in the ocean of love or the Soul quality. If we live in love; love flows through us. If we start loving, it is a personal aspect. The Love Divine is impersonal, like the magnetic currents that flow through the magnet. It has no choice, as: “I shall flow this way, I shall not flow that way, I shall not flow to the back, I shall only flow to the front”. When we feel 'mine', then we project only in one way, and that is all personality: “My wisdom, my group, my family”. The moment we say 'mine', we have circumscribed and limited it, and we suffer from it. All belong to HIM, and we are also of HIM, hence we live happily without holding on to others. If we do not possess, we are also not possessed. The moment we possess, we are also possessed. So, the whole game gets conditioned. When I hold a pen, it is holding my hand. So long as I hold it, it holds my hand. I cannot do any other thing as long as I hold this pen. That is how possessing and holding, in return, possesses and holds us. This is where one has to realize the conditioning of the motherly love and walk into the love of the Father.

Temporary Borrowing

That is how we will walk from Cancer into Leo. In Cancer we have the Mother aspect, and in Leo we have the Father aspect reflected in the son, because the fifth house speaks of the product of our own being, that is, the Father coming down as the son. No father can complain about his children. If a father complains about his children, he is only complaining about himself, because the child came out of him as himself. I cannot criticise the product that I have brought out. With a lot of strain I bring out a, product and then say: “This is not. good”, then you will j say: ” Throw it out”. .

The concept of 'mine' exists in instincts, in t intellect, and also in intuition. Funnily we have the habit; of saying: “My intuition tells me”. This problem of 'my' has to disappear in every aspect of life. There is no such thing as my intuition, my intellect, my instinct, or my body; everything is from the Pool of Consciousness, it is temporarily gathered into a form, and it again gets back j into the Pool of Consciousness. Everything is temporarily gathered from it. The matter of the body is gathered from the planet, the water of the body is gathered from the water of the planet, the lower mind of the body is gathered” from the mind of the planet, the fire and the air also, are gather around from the planet. The Solar Light remains I in us as the higher mind, and verily, the Solar Angel remains as us.

Thus, it is all a temporary borrowing for the purpose, and it is decided by time how long it should be In time they come together, and according to time they disperse. It is for the sake of the splendour of experience, time brings all this together and again distributes it. We cannot own anything in the meanwhile. It is like trying to own the ball which is being played on the football ground. If one of the players says: “This ball is mine”, and tries to run away with it, he cannot, because there are so many thousands of people in the audience around, who will not allow him to run away with the ball.

Likewise we cannot run anywhere with anything. The highest understanding is: “there is no such thing as running away at all”. Hercules learnt in this fourth sun sign that he did not need to go crazy to acquire things; by permeation everything was his. It is a question of permeation through love, which is an aspect of the Mother. The baser aspect of the Mother is possession. That is the fourth labour.

We have seen how Hercules was running after the dove. The symbolism of the dove is age old. There are many stories in the Puranas where people went hunting after deers, and finally the deer lands them in a spiritual situation or transformation. There are innumerable stories in the Puranas, where a King Initiate runs after a deer and then transforms himself into a son of God. The doe or the hind is called in Sanskrit as “Mrg”, and there is an important constellation called “Mrgasira”, through which the spiritual energies can be drawn. In all the situations the deer is never caught, but the one who hunts after the deer is caught.

Restoring the Pulsation

We are all well aware of the white dove that landed on the shoulders of the Son of God, Jesus, indicating the arrival of wisdom, love, and life. The white dove is not only indicative of wisdom, but also of the life principle. The symbol of the bird in the Veda also stands for the principle of pulsation.

Cancer presides over pulsation, while Aries rules over the blood. Cancer rules its circulation and respiration, which are the manifestation of pulsation. Gemini presides over the permeation of blood. The restoration of the white dove to the Temple is also indicative of restoring pulsation to its natural state. Holding the dove tenderly near the heart is indicative of contemplating upon the pulsating principle in the Heart Centre.

While Cancer at one level governs behaviour, instinct, impulse, sentiment, and feeling, at a higher level it governs pulsation, respiration, heartbeat and circulation.

Cancer is also the gateway for the Souls to fall into matter through reflection, while its opposite sign, Capricorn, is the gateway for the Souls to rise from the matter. The dove moving in the objectivity is to be understood as the Soul moving through personality, and individuality in the objective world. Its restoration to the Temple should be understood as the withdrawal from circumferential activity to the centre.

Now we can understand as to why the Lunar Angel, as well as the Solar Angel, claimed the dove. The white dove within reflection i.e., the reflected objective world, belongs ,to the Lunar Angel, hence she claims the dove. The white dove beyond reflection is the Soul that belongs to the Solar Angel. The restoration of the dove is the restoration of the son of man to his original state, i.e., son of God. Thus a labour in the Path of Initiation gets accomplished.

From Aries to Cancer, the Path of the Sun is covered, marking an ending and another beginning. Every watery sign marks the end of things for a fresh beginning, and it also marks a state of change. Cancer is represented by a beetle in the Denderah Zodiac. In this zodiac the beetle is said to transform certain lower forms of insects into beetles. The change in Cancer is a transformation. The Lord of Cancer, Jupiter, presides over such transformations. In India, the Cancer Full Moon is a great spiritual festival, called “Guru Poornima”, meaning, “Master's Full Moon”. Guru, Jupiter, presides to conduct transformations on the Full Moon day, to grant entrance to the seekers into the Temple of the Solar God. Today mostly the tradition prevails, while the significance is forgotten. However, it is well preserved in the esoteric circles, and expresses itself in favourable conditions.

The Twice Born

Hercules reached the 5th labour. His Teacher said: “Get into the cave and kill the lion. The lion is causing a lot of difficulties in the area of Nemea. Go and kill it”. Thus, Hercules went there and tried to fight with it, but he found that the equipment he had was not adequate for the fight. He thus, put down all the weapons that he carried and ran after the lion. The lion went into the cave, and Hercules followed it. As he went into the cave, he found that there was an interior cave to the cave into which the lion walked. The first cave had a cave within, which I partly explained before.

The first cave we have to get in is overcoming respiration and reach pulsation. The cave within the cave is the cave relating to pulsation. When we walk through or into pulsation, even pulsation becomes exterior to us; that is the cave into which we have to walk to return as a son of God. The fifth house stands for sonship; that means that the son of man becomes a son of God. The man, who was earlier born in darkness, is now born in Light! He is born for the 2nd time; so, he is called the 'twice-born'.

The Original Experience

What Hercules did with the lion within the interior cave is not known to the ones who are exterior to the cave. He killed the lion in the cave and returned alone. He went into the cave alone and returned from it alone. What exactly Hercules did in the cave is not known. It cannot be known, because to every human being the experiencing of the Soul is his own original experience. Many things can be said about it, but it cannot be said as such. The experience cannot be passed on, but we can speak about it.

The one who has taken dinner this evening, when he speaks to the one who has not taken dinner, may tell elaborately how the dinner was. It is just an information to the listener, but not the experience. It does not give him the experience of eating the spaghetti which were served. I don't even know if the dinner we had is to be called spaghetti or something else. The beauty is that I have eaten although I don't know the name, but I had the experience of it. It does not matter if the name is not known, but if only the name is known and it is not experienced, it is still a worse situation!

For example, for want of words we use many times the term: 'the Soul aspect'. When we say 'the Soul aspect', we are considering ourselves in the third person, while we are the ones about whom we are speaking. So, it has to be an experience by itself. That experience cannot be passed on; but there is no prohibition to pass it on. One is not forbidden to pass it on, but we cannot. Just like we cannot experience the spaghetti, unless we have eaten it ourselves. We can describe the shape of it, the colour of it, and when we eat, the sound of it. Thus, the sound, colour and shape symbolism can be explained, but the actual experience of having eaten cannot be passed on. That is how it is with the act of Hercules killing the lion within the cave.

A very good sentence is included in the description by the Tibetan Master about it. He says: “Nobody knew how he killed the lion, while it is generally said, that he choked it by the throat”. When Hercules walked into the cave, he walked in as a son of man and yet a son of God. When he returned, he returned as a son of God, as he has experienced the Father within his own Being as himself. Because the Father exists as son, and there is no such thing as two existences as Father and son. Existence is one, and is experienced. When it is experienced, it is experienced as everything. Thus, the Father has been experienced by the son as himself. That is why he speaks in first person all the time thereafter.

I Am That I Am

When Moses returned from Mount Sinai, he was found to be a different person by his wife. His encounter with the “Burning Bush” at the mount was within his heart but not outside. He meets the Divine in him, whose name is 'I AM'. The little I am meets the big I AM. Thereafter I AM returns and the little one gets infused into the bigger one.

The process relating to it takes place in the Heart Centre. The related steps are the 4th, 5th and 6th steps of Patanjali Yoga, viz., Pranayama, Pratyahara and Dharana. In short, it relates to the application of mind upon respiration, the consequent internalisation of mind, followed by respiration and the neutralisation of mind's thought, which results in reaching pulsation. When one remains with such pulsation, it is called “entering the cave”. When one is through the pulsation into the subtle pulsation, it is called “entering into the cave within the cave”, where one meets his Higher Self, the Light beyond reflection. In that deep meditative state, respiration ceases, the secondary thoughts cease, and even pulsation is feeble. Only the original thought, 'I AM', “I exist”, remains, and no other ripple of thought exits. It is like a stilled water lake in existence, full of light and with a humming sound.

The false identity of personality gets relegated to the background. The original identity is gained. The seeker realizes “I AM THAT”. Verily THAT exists as I AM. This is called SOHAM in the Vedic literature. Then comes the realization “I AM THAT I AM!” There is no more identification with the personality; personality is seen as the robe to function through. He no more identifies with his personality, meaning, he does not feel 'his' nationality, 'his' language, 'his' caste, 'his' social status, and not even 'his' name. He remembers himself as I AM, and that too not separatively, but as part of THAT. “THAT I AM” is his song of breath. It is called the “Song of the Swan”. That is how the son of man turns out of the cave as the Son of God. The process is accomplished through meditation. But meditation up to such deeper status is not possible unless one has organised his personality. Study and service for long years enable organising the personality, that will be fit for meditation. Until such time, meditation remains a fashion!

The Identity of Existence

This lion is the king of the animals. We know the animal in us, which is our personality. It is that personality which is put to death in the cave. The man returns without any identity other than the identity of Existence. He only refers to it all the time in the first person. When he refers to IT in the first person, naturally we take to his personality than to the person, he is referring to. He refers to the Indweller of the form in the first person, but we take to the form, through which IT is expressed. That is why his speeches are not rightly understood. As far as he is concerned, only the ONE exists, and the other who went into the cave has ceased to exist. He remembers himself as I AM and nothing else. Others are recollected with effort. The first recollection in and around is I AM. If he sees a cow, he does not see the cow as such, as we see; he sees the energy in a form, and he calls it THAT. THAT which is called cow, .THAT which is called house, etc. Every time it is THAT he refers to, which is called like “THIS”. Only THAT appears in all. Since he has to communicate in the world, he uses the names which are generally used by others.

Therein lies the difference between the Initiates' understanding and our understanding. In his understanding it is THAT first, and the cow next. In our understanding it is the cow first, and, with great difficulty and if that day is planetarily well-meaning to us, we may remember, maybe, that “THAT” is perhaps also there in the cow. There is a conditional suspicious acceptance of THAT which IS. The Initiate does not see the names as we see; he sees the names as a facility only. He sees THAT first, then he sees the formed being, and then the name. Anything seen is first seen as THAT, and, with effort, he gets into other states of involution of THAT.

Seeing Beyond The Attributes

It seems to be very confusing to us. It is confusing to us, because we are accustomed to see IT in one way. The Initiate is accustomed to see IT in another way. That which we see first, he cannot see. THAT which he sees first, we cannot see! He sees THAT first, and all other attributes next. We see the attributes first, and then 'try' to see the other one next. So the starting point itself is totally different. It is said that what the Initiates see, we don't see, and what we see, the Initiates don't see.

When we see a person, we see the name first, then, whether it is man or a woman, what clothing he or she is wearing and what nationality he or she belongs to. The next immediate thing that we remember is how he or she behaved with us in the previous encounter. If the previous encounter was pleasant, there is a smile on our face; if it was otherwise, the face too is otherwise. That means, we stopped with the attributes, and we do not see beyond. However much we try to hide, our eyes cannot hide. The Initiate's way of seeing things is, he can see the eyes and sees what is happening; while we see the name, the form, and the quality. He sees THAT which is beyond the name, the form, and the quality; hence, with effort, he gets into 'THIS', while we get into 'THAT with great effort.

Once I visited an Initiate with a few members of our group in Central India. The Initiate took care of us like a father, and presented to all the group members with clothing. On the day we departed, the ladies of our group wore the sarees who had been presented by the Initiate and tried to take blessings from him. We offered our salutations to him and he blessed us. Suddenly one of the ladies said: “Master, the saree I am wearing is what you gave me yesterday”. As I was standing by the Initiate side, he asked me: “What is it, I am hearing?”, then I said: “This lady is wearing the saree which you gave yesterday”. He blinked his eyes once and said: “Oh, good”. Then he looked at me and said: “I don't see which form is coming in what clothing. To me it is all Light. It requires a little effort for me to see that which you want me to see!”

It is so true with Initiates, that they only see the Units of Consciousness hey and don't even see the polities to start with, unless they want to see, and they don't have wants. According to our requirements, they see. They only see the Light or the Consciousness, having come out of the cave. What they see is darkness to us, and what we see is darkness to them. This is what is mystically said in the Bhagavad Gita: “The day of the Initiate is night to the man, and the night of the Initiate is day to the man”. The phenomena of seeing are represented in two parallel waves; they do not meet, actually. Many times the disciples bring the Initiate down to their level into the qualities of the form, attitudes of the form, colour of the form, shape of the form, and above all, the name of the form. For an Initiate, the name and the form are not carried in the memory; they are recollected when needed. The moment they turn to the left, that which is seen before, disappears, but when they see the same form again, it is recollected. Sitting alone at home and thinking: “Rafael behaved like this, Josep behaved like that” this kind of thinking does not exist with an Initiate. But when Rafael or Josep meet again the Initiate, the previous meetings are clearly recollected. His screen is always clean, and the image come back according to the requirement of the programme. The veils of name, form, and quality don't exist. This is what is called transacting with Light. If we can overcome the name, the form, and the quality of the form beyond these three veils, we only meet ourselves.

Transacting with the Light

When we see ourselves in the mirror, we are joyful. Everyone in this world thinks that he is beautiful or handsome. We may not find the others' face beautiful, but our own face cannot be disagreeable when we look at the mirror. Looking at our face, each one of us thinks (if he is healthy): “I am beautiful”. The truth is: “I AM” is beautiful, “I AM” is always beautiful. If we can see I AM through the eyes of the other, we see our own Self reflected in the other being, lifting the veils of name, form, and quality. Then the joy is much more, because it is a transaction of Light happening through the eyes. Whenever we look to anyone, we try to look into the eyes. Why is it so? It is the urge of the Soul to meet the Soul. But we have other things in between, and those other things do not allow the transaction of Light. We only repeat parrot-like the invocation of the evening, which says: “May we transact Light in terms of joy”, and only this remains with us.

For an Initiate it is only transaction with Light wherever it is, with whomsoever it is, because Light is ,”Light wherever it is. That is how the Initiate functions. He is known by his functioning after he has come out of the cave. To him, personality remains as a channel for expression, but it does not carry any quality of its own. His personality has no points of view of its own; it has no fixed position of its own, it is all according to others' position. That is what is called impersonal functioning, where there is no pre-programming of how to function. It is a spontaneous functioning of the Soul through the personality. As it happens, the Initiate rejoices the transactions with Light; that is all.

The tasks come up to him, and he responds to them. There is no such thing as fixing tasks and trying to work for them. The Initiate does not approach the tasks, the tasks approach him. He is not in a hurry to do things; he does things as they come up to him. Above all, he has nothing to speak of him as a personality. He does not dig up from his past and splash it on others, because it is all gone. He is only concerned about what is to be done, as he has overcome the feelings of what has been done or what is to be done.

The Smoky Path

Feeling is the smoky path. If there is more smoke, slowly the flame disappears. The Teacher always says: “Make sure that the flame is bright; let not the smoke kill the flame”. On the smoky path we live in feelings, which have no immediate purpose. Thoughts that have an immediate purpose are different from feelings which are entertained just like that. These feelings are generally about ourselves or about others. When we live in feelings we are surrounded by smoke. The more is the feeling, the more is the smoke, and the more is the smoke, the less is the visibility. What little understanding was there before, is also gone with the smoke.

We have seen what fog was yesterday and what light is today. Even the proximate hill could not be seen yesterday, while today we can see very far. That is the difference between the smoky path and the Path of Light. Entertainment of feelings is a distortion to the thought process, which does not exist with the one who came out of the cave. The man who disappears into the cave turns out totally transmuted. If we ask him what has happened, he just smiles; that is all. He is not interested in speaking about himself; he is interested in conducting the work according to the Plan with which he is linked in the cave as the Son. This is how the Sonship emerges and conducts itself in utter impersonality. Hence he has little to care about others' opinion; he has stopped to listen to opinions, because that leads once again to feelings. It is functioning or living in Light, or living in Light along with functioning. It is a state where there is continuity of Existence arising out of continuity of awareness; hence it is called the state of no death. A son of God has no death, because he is in complete and continuous awareness. He is awareness and he remains as awareness.

The Causelless State

His work is a work of welfare to others, without a cause. If we ask him: “Why do you serve?”, he has no answer. Just like that. If we ask a child: 'Why do you play?', the child has no answer. It is so natural for the child to play, and it is so natural for the Initiate to serve, that there is no because for working.

Thus, he gradually walks into a state of causeless functioning. If someone asks him: “Why do you do this?”, he smiles. If we insist on an answer, he says: “Do you really wish to know?” If the questioner says: “Yes, I really wish to know”, he replays: “Do you want the truth?”, the . questioner says: “Of course I want the truth”. The Initiate says: “If you want the truth, I do not know, is the answer, because he is not doing anything for a cause; doing is his nature.

That is how he gets into a causeless state, and gradually the causal body dissipates. When the causal body dissipates, he is beyond consequences of his action. Every act has a consequence when it is done with a motive or when it is done with a because. Cause has effect, but in the case of the Initiates they have cut off the cause aspect, and hence there is no effect aspect. Causeless action leads to sequential living, which is not “consequential”. “Be sequential, but no “consequential” ”, is an instruction for the disciple. There is no consequence to his action, because he does not work with a personal cause. He just goes on, and on, and on, and he does it in joy, because he is transacting with Light all the time. He dies to that which we live up to and he lives up to “THAT” which we don't live up to, hence his actions leave a big gap for comprehension. We try to interpret him with our little comprehensions. He neither confirms it nor denies it, because they do not mean anything to him in return. He does not look back, and he functions without seeking cause, without seeking results. That is the action which keeps man lively.

Skill In Action

When we look for results in action, the action is not so lively. If we work with a cause, the actions ,are not so lively. Action for action's sake is what is the Initiates' lot, and it is called “the skill in action”. The two strings attached to action are dropped now; one string is the cause of motive, and the other string is the result. Both are dropped, but action continues. That is what is referred to as “skill in action”. The definition of Yoga which Lord ;, Krishna gives is: “Yoga is nothing but skill in action”. After some time, when he was asked what is Yoga, he said: “Yoga is nothing but equanimity”. If we carry equanimity, it is the yogic state. If we carry skill in action, ” it is also the yogic state. That is the state in which the one: who comes out of the cave functions. He is no more a mobile graveyard. Normally people who live with motives, with causes, seeking for results, live a life which is far inferior to the life which is intended for the beings. All this sounds to be a very high philosophy, but if we start functioning, we find it is simple. There 'is no such thing as creating further programme of action. We create consequences out of action, and hence we are bound by our actions. In the past we have created consequences, and today we are bound by them. Today, when we act, we; create consequences, and we are bound by them tomorrow.

If we overact, there are consequences, and if we underact, there are consequences. If we act as we like, it ' has consequences, but if we act as is required, it has no consequences. If we fast, it has consequences, and if we overeat, it has consequences. If we eat as much as is required for the body, it has no consequences. That is how it is.

Fasting

We see Initiates fasting, and then our little mind, suggests: “Then they should also have consequences”. Yes, they have consequences if their concept of fasting is like that of ours. An Initiate fasting and a normal man fasting are two different things. An Initiate, on account of his absorption into the “All Permeating Consciousness”, forgets to eat, and he does not remember for a while that he has to eat. He does not remember the breakfast time, the lunch time, and the dinner time, because he is in that state of awareness where he is beyond the body consciousness. He can even remain forty days in tune with the Father, and there is no thought that he did not eat. If we are engaged in a work which is immensely pleasing to us, we don't care for food so much.

Suppose that someone who is very dear to us is laying in the hospital seriously ill and we are attending to him. The clock strikes 8 o'clock, but we don't remember to have breakfast, because our priority is to attend to the dearest one. The thought of breakfast does not figure in, because we are absorbed into something nobler than breakfast.

Likewise imagine when we are “at-one-ment” with THAT, we forget everything. We forget our name, we forget our surroundings, we forget all other things. There is no other thought except THAT, and we remain in that thought. Only when we are delinked with that thought, then we will recollect, but not during our link with that thought. Thus, the thought of fasting does not exist to them as it exists with us. If we fast, the face very clearly indicates it, and the mind is always entertaining about our not eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The fasting in the Scriptures is not in relation to not eating, but it is in relation with THAT which we call God, which is such a taste to us where”; we don't feel like eating.

There is an inscription in the East, which says: “Do not fast if you feel you are fasting. That is only causing some injury to the body”. It is just like saying: “Do not give if you feel you are giving. Do not serve if you feel you are serving. Do not sacrifice if you feel you are sacrificing”. The feeling part is the smoky part. There is doing without feeling, and that brings Light. If feeling is attached, there is the generation of smoke to it.

The Body Of The Initiate

That is how it is with the one who walks into the cave and returns from out of it. His mind, senses, and body co-operate with his work; they do not disturb him in his work. They may carry some weaknesses or diseases, I but they do not interfere with his work. We see many J Initiates who had ill-health, but their ill-health did not come in the way of their functioning. If a magnet is a bit curved, it does not affect its emanation of the magnetic current, and it has no impact on its emanation of magnetic current, be it small or big. Likewise the functioning of the Soul continues as far as the Initiate is concerned, regardless the limitations of the body. He allows the laws of the body to function through without interfering into them. He would even allow a kind of a disease to remain with him as a source of exit.

Shankaracharya, who lived in the seventh century, did the work that was entrusted to him till he was 30 years .old, and then he told his disciples: “Now my work is over. I will be walking towards the North and cast off this body on the way”. Likewise the first Buddha who is called Rishabha, also has cast off his body in that fashion. After the work was over, he did not stay back; he walked into a fiery forest and dropped off the body. The awareness is such that the body is for a purpose, and when the purpose is done, it is cast off.

This is how the one who kills the lion lives thereafter. That is why he is said to be leonine, noble, protective, serviceable, silent, daring, skilful, and knowledgeable. That is what happens if we really walk into the cave as Hercules walked in.

The Leo Energy for Self-Transformation

Please remember that the Leo energy is essentially noble, straight and loving. Leo conquers obstacles and rules. Among the ordinary, Leo causes rule of others. Among disciples, Leo helps self-rule. Leo fights for the law, for justice, and for the establishment of order.

If we wish to gain the Leo energy for self- transformation, as Hercules did, we need to do the following:

a) Contemplate upon pulsation

-pulsation regulates the respiratory and circulatory activity on one side, and the thoughts on the otherside. Pulsation has a double function, and it is the source for respiration and thought production.

b) Contemplate upon the source of your voice as you utter forth the Sacred Word, slowly, softly, uniformly and deeply.

c) Utter the rhythmic prayers, like GAYATRI, loudly, so that you can fix up your mind upon your utterance and its import -this practice enables you to rise from the 1st three levels (physical, emotional, and mental). It cleans the triple vehicle, and restores the diaphragm to its natural upthrust, which brings about a balance .between the Heart Centre and the Solar Plexus. Please remember, if the diaphragm loses its upward thrust:

a) you lose the nerve-grip of the diaphragm

b) your respiration, circulation of blood, and functioning of the lungs would be sub-standard

c) there would be the downward pull of the diaphragm towards the Solar Plexus, causing loss of the peristaltic action. Inturn sets in early ageing

d) you get imprisoned in lower levels, losing grip over Prana, the life force.

The grip of Leo is the tight grip of Prana which enables the ascent into Higher Circles.

Many are the sublime secrets of Leo. For now we conclude with these details on the labour of Leo. We need a separate seminar on Leo, for it leads us to the 3rd Initiation.

The Cronological Order of the Labours

Tomorrow we shall consider the sun sign Virgo, where we speak about an earthy sign, the second one. The zodiacal division is on the basis of the airy trio, the fiery trio, the earthy trio, and the watery trio. There is also another methodology, that of the fixed cross, the cardinal cross, and the mutable cross. There are varieties of ways of looking at the zodiac. For our convenience, we are considering the zodiac according to the solar year, and that is why we may find in the future some labours, where it looks as if Hercules has retrograded. Just like some planets have retrogression, it looks as though he has moved backward and moved forward. After assimilating all the 12 sun signs and the labours relating to it, we can try to put them together and see how they fit in, one after the other. Now we are only considering these labours almost independently. Kindly bear this in mind when we go through the rest of the labours. When we have already landed with the Soul quality by getting into the cave and killing the lion, there is nothing further to speak. Nevertheless, let us gather all the 12 keys, and then, later, put them in an order.

The Women’s Kingdom

In the sixth labour of Hercules, which is said to be the sixth gate that Hercules was asked to enter into, It was proposed that Hercules should bring the girdle of a queen. He should win over the girdle and fetch it. The girdle is an ornamental wear that a lady holds around her waist.

We all know that the sign Virgo is situated below the diaphragm and above the navel, and has a beautiful shape. In India, the ladies wear a golden belt around that part; it is a kind of circular ornamental wear, and that is what was to be fetched by Hercules from a queen. That queen was at THAT shore of the Creation, and not at this shore of the Creation. It is at the other end where there is the beginning, and around her is this girdle. Our hero was told to go and fetch it.

This queen has a big kingdom, and in her kingdom there are only women, no men, because men are women in that Creation! In that kingdom all men are women! Above the kingdom, there is THE MAN, THE COSMIC MAN. Below the kingdom or below the girdle, there are only women. Now and then, that which is above descends through the girdle as a son of God. This keeps happening now and then, but even when HE comes, he is only a son, that is, a child of this queen. He has to come through her as the son, hence nobody is equal to her in Creation. That is why it is said that in her kingdom all are women and there is no man.

He And She

Those who receive are women and those who give are men. According to the occult understanding, there is only one giver and the rest are receivers. HE is the giver of life, the giver of Light, the giver of the form. We are at the receiving end, while there is only ONE who is at the giving end. Thus, the LORD is said to be the only “man”. His Creation is female, and is presided over by this Queen, who is called the WORLD MOTHER. In fact, even HE has to pass through HER. Or HE becomes SHE and then permeates. In Creation it is only SHE in whom there is HE.

Just a slight deviation, because I recollect a statement given by Master CVV, where he says: “HE is in SHE”. If you close the letter S, HE appears. When this letter s manifests, HE is concealed by SHE. He also said: “Man is hidden in woman”. If we remove the syllable 'wo', we find the 'man'. “Adam is concealed in madam”. Just in a humorous way on one fine morning, Master CVV spoke to his associates like this. Of course, it is a play of words, but it carries a deep wisdom.

The Perceiver

In Creation HE is contained by SHE. The first emanation is SHE from HIM, and the permeation is through SHE. When there is the emanation, there is the perception. If there is no emanation, there is “no-one” to perceive and there is nothing to perceive. The perceiver, that which is to be perceived, and the act of perception are one before the emanation.

As we wake up, it is already a state of perception from the state of “Para”. In Sanskrit, Para means 'beyond' (THAT, THE TRUTH). Then comes perception as “Pasyanti”, which is the root word for 'perception' in English. There has to be a perceiver to perceive. The perceiver emerges from THAT, and then there are the three Logos manifesting. Through perception there is further permeation. All our activity happens after we have woken up in the morning; before that, in deep sleep, there is no perception. Thus, the whole thing is sleeping, and suddenly there is an emanation. This emanation is like a ripple in a still- water lake. Then it forms a circle.

The Ring-Pass Not

Imagine a still water lake, we just drop a pebble, what happens? There are emanations in circles. The ripples emanate as circles. It is not that one pebble gives only one emanation of one circle-, but there are series of emanations up to a point of time, called periodicity. These series of circles that emanate are referred to as the girdle of the Mother.

It is “the ring-pass-not”, or the “Kurukshetra” of the Eastern symbolism. In the boundless Space, there is an emanation in a particular area, and that is the area which is now put to the emanation that is called the 'field of action' or Kurukshetra in Sanskrit. The space that is there has become potential, and that part of the potential space is called Kurukshetra. Just like as we wake up, we have a field of activity. The ant has its own field of activity, the rat has its own field of activity, and the cat has its own field of activity. The lion has a little larger field of activity than the cat, man has a larger field of activity, but yet limited, the planet has a field of activity, and yet limited. The centre of our solar system, called the sun, has its own ring-pass-not. Likewise beyond the system also, for the entire Universe, there is a ring-pass-not! That is the limit beyond which nobody goes or permeates. The first impulse has its own field of activity, which is circumscribed by its own limitation, and within that we keep acting.

The Look Of The Father

The boundless Space is bounded for a period; it is a period or periodicity of time, and that is what is referred to as the girdle. Within that, there are emanations. These emanations are also circular, and very broadly, it is said that there are seven emanations. That is how we speak of seven days, seven colours, seven sounds, seven Manvantaras. These are all relating to a periodicity of a Universe, which is the emanation of THAT through that which we call the World Mother. We see only when IT is emanated, arid not before; that means, the Mother's love is the means of the Father's look. She is the medium to make the Father visible. The look of the Lord is experienced through the love of the Mother. The ability to exchange the looks, when we see each other, is arising out of the activity of the Mother; otherwise there will be no exchange. There is no second to see the ONE, and it is no an interesting game.

The Game Of Creation

Creation is a play in which there is exchange for experience, but it has also its limitation. It is a willing limitation that is undertaken by THAT for the fun of it, for the play of it.

For example, when we play the role of a horse or the role of an elephant with a small child, does it mean that we have limited ourselves eternally to the role of an elephant or a horse? For the limited purpose of playing with the child, yes. Likewise the One Cosmic Person has sacrificed himself into the so-called limitation, for the play of it. Within the Creation it is the play to which HE volunteered and submitted. Having entered the arena of the play, we have accepted certain limitations. Within the ground or within the circle the limitations exist, but only for the play of it. If we are playing a role in a drama where we do not have legs, do we continue to be so after the drama? Do we believe that our legs are not functioning? This is how a make-believe situation arises out of the game or the play within the circle.

I told you about the football game. For the limited purpose of the game the players adapt to certain regulations. We keep two goals, two goal keepers, and two teams keep playing for a periodicity. The rule of the game is “not to kick the ball into your own goal”. The goal keeper is expected to keep the goal, and as he receives the ball, he cannot kick it into his own goal. But does it mean, he cannot? If you are the goal keeper, and you get the ball into your hands, what prevents you from kicking it into your own goal?, or what prevents your own team member to kick the ball into your own goal? Nothing prevents it, but you don't do it. Why? Because that is the rule of the game, just like in every game. If we take basket ball, you put the ball into the others' basket, but not into your own basket. You can also put the ball into your own basket, and nobody objects. Suppose, halfway the game a player gets this idea: “Why should I take the trouble of putting the ball in the others' basket? let me put it in my own basket”.. If he does it once, a card will be shown to him by his captain. If he does it the second time, he will be put outside the game, because he cannot be in the game doing such things. The player willingly accepts the rules and starts functioning without complaints, always running and putting the ball into the others' basket. Half way through the game you cannot feel the game as foolish, and if you feel so, you will be put aside.

In this game of Creation there is no such thing as staying aside; we shall have to be in it, even with complaints. How long will we have to be like that? As long as the disease of complaints exists. That is how it is. It is discomforting when the Laws of Nature are not followed or not understood, but it is very enjoyable and lovable when the laws are understood, followed, and played. If we are not in the game we don't have to follow, but every morning we are into it, whether we like it or not. There is no such thing as refusing to play. Everyone is a player here, and according to the rules he observes, he gains the experience.

The Qualities of the World Mother

It was that kingdom into which Hercules was sent to make an understanding of the girdle. As he was about to reach the kingdom to receive the girdle, there was a scene on the other side. The queen of the kingdom said: “ A son of God and yet a son of man is approaching us for the girdle. Shall we give it? Shall we not give it?' As she was proposing, Hercules already arrived. He only knew . one thing, to kill people and snatch things.

This girdle is the girdle of unity, it is the girdle of love. That means, we shah have to feel unity while within it. We shall then carry the love of it which enables us to sacrifice or serve it and have the trust in it. So there are four aspects within the arena or the girdle, which are unity leading to love, love leading to sacrifice and trust. These are the qualities of the World Mother. Those who possess these qualities can live in her Creation without conflict.

If we miss the first, we miss the second. If we miss the concept of unity, we miss love.

Unity And Love

There is a lot of propagation, that people should love. They also say, that only Jesus Christ gave the doctrine of love, and that earlier no one had spoken of love. They keep on boring us with: “love, love, love”. Nobody can love like that. Love is a happening, if we have realized the unity. Realize the unity in you. If there is something stinging in the feet, there is a reflex action to save the leg from the sting. Why are such automatic reflex actions taking place in us? Because we feel the unity of our own being. We love the whole being in such a fashion, arising out of the unity, that we naturally experience.

So also in Creation we are expected to realize and retain this unity in the background of our mind. Then, just as we conduct the acts of love relating to our being we do so for others also. In truth there are no “others”, it is the same Being. As it is in us, is also in the other. It is ONE, appearing as many. Since it is veiled by variety of forms, we do not see. One needs occult sight to see through the form and find the ONE. When we find the ONE in all including ourselves, we see that the other is no different from us in essence. This realisation of unity results in an automatic flow of love. Love is the flow when unity is realized, to love is therefore a false approach. To unite is the right approach. When we are divided with the other, love does not flow. If we are asked to love someone, whom we do not know, or whom we do not like, can we do so? But when we realise that the other is no other but our brother, the love flows.

Thus, don't propagate to others: “we have to love, we have to love”. That way we can never, never, and never love. We feel that it is imposed on us, that we have to love. The burden of loving thy neighbour is too heavy! If we feel, that he is a neighbour we cannot love, but we can easily love, if we feel, that he is no other than us. So, before we realize the Universal Love, there is a pre- requisite that we shall have to feel the unity.

See, how we love our own people. In a large group of humanity, there are small groups. The love is extended to that which is considered as our own. That means, in a big girdle, there are innumerable small girdles created by us, causing more separativity than what is intended. It is not intended, but it is arising out of lack of knowledge. That is why knowledge, Jnana in Sanskrit, is considered to be the first and fundamental step towards action. We have been acting and acting and acting, but without knowledge, hence we are in a conflicting situation, but where unity is picked up as the slogan and worked out through knowledge, love flows automatically. It is no more a personal aspect.

Sacrifice And Trust

When love flows, it is followed by sacrifice. We sacrifice so much towards those whom we love, and we stop sacrificing, when we stop loving. Up to a point we love and hence we give, then comes a situation where we stop loving. With vengeance, we cut off that which we have been doing before. When unity is forgotten, love is automatically forgotten. When love is forgotten sacrifice is nil, then trust gets substituted by mistrust or doubt. Within the arena, these are the four aspects which shall have to be realized through recollection. Remember this symbol of unity, love, sacrifice, service and trust. It is the symbol of brotherhood.

(Fig.2)

The Gifts of the Mother

Hercules came up to the queen. That means, he felt the limitation and wanted to fight with it. The story says, that the queen was offering the girdle with love but Hercules killed her and seized the girdle. Naturally it is so in the sixth house. You are naturally giving it to me, why should I seize it from you? I not only seize it, but also kill you. This is how it happens in the sixth house.

The sixth house is the house of “lack of understanding” which is called misunderstanding. That is why Mercury in the lower levels causes disputes and misunderstanding. Mercury is the Lord of Virgo and he is a source of trouble, when there is no understanding. Understanding comes from Jupiter. Mercury associated with Jupiter comprehends all, but when Mercury is afflicted it is awesome.

Hercules was into a kind of misunderstanding. He did not see the fitness of the Mother in the whole game. In Taurus the Mother represents the form aspect and in Virgo the love aspect (Mother as Nature and Mother as Love).

Many things are offered by Nature to us sheerly out of love for us. If we are today like this, it is because of the grace of the Mother. She has not only given the form, but also many gifts through the surroundings for our nourishment and for our joy. One must see the beauty of the gifts that the Mother gives.

This part of the story of Hercules indicates how a man struggles when he does not understand Nature. He not only struggles, he insults Nature. He neglects the Nature by completely overlooking and neglecting the gifts she is giving. There is so much of cherishing by the Mother to the children. Out of sheer love for the children gifts are given. In so far as they are not understood, we feel that the Mother is cruel. We say: “the cruel Nature, the cruel mother”. There is no cruelty in it, except protecting and nourishing.

If we eat something which is not good for us, there will be an excruciating pain in the stomach. This pain is a process of neutralising that which is taken in and that! which is not agreeable. It is Nature at work to protect us, .I hence it gives us the signals of the stomach ache and the wisdom to attend to it so that we are protected. Suppose we eat something poisonous. The mother makes haste to see, that it is thrown out by way of vomiting, by way of some kind of motions, and alerts our own intellect to see that we also co-operate in eliminating it. If we only see the pain part of it, it looks as though it is very cruel, but if it does not pain, it has serious consequences inside. In a man who is of less vitality, any attack from outside to his disadvantage is not immediately noticed. It takes deeper roots into his being and springs up later. But in a person of vitality and good health, it immediately reflects, so that we immediately attend to the problem. This principle is recognized by homeopathy.

Suppose we go to the snowy mountains and play with the snow; immediately we catch cold. We can immediately attend to it and get rid of it, as the Nature in us throws it out by way of high temperature, but if we are weak in vitality, the cold settles deeper in the being and expresses itself out after some time as some kind of bronchitis. That is how Nature is at work with us to save us all the time. Those who follow the rules of Nature are saved quicker. It is we who make it lovable or cruel according to our understanding and conduct.

Prejudice Towards Nature

When we look at things from the other angle, we find that the whole Creation is a useless game. We feel, why should all this be like this? It is like standing in the football ground as a player and then getting more into philosophy than into the play. We will be kicked if we stand on the ground without playing. We can stand still when we don't get into the game, but we are in the playground, and hence we have to play. Those who have complaints are those who have not understood the play. That is why there is a kind of miss understanding of Nature's love, Nature's unity and splendour. If a beautiful game is conceived and is proposed to be played, only the sick people will say: “Why do you want me to play?” They have a complaining nature, because there is sickness in them.

There are two kinds of people who neglect Nature, those who do not know and those who are half knowledgeable. The half knowledge is the impractical spiritual understanding. A fresher who walks into the spiritual doctrines or concepts, will start negating the material and all that is around. Don't we find it? There is more criticism of the play of the world than seeing the fitness of it. Those are the ones who misbehave with Nature. We find the two varieties, those who do not understand and those who have a kind of prejudice towards Nature. Through Nature we not only receive, but we can also create.

The Teacher’s Admonition

Hercules behaved very roughly with Nature, and hence he received an admonition from the Teacher. The Teacher said: “What have you done? Don't show your face to me again. Till you improve, your face shall not be seen by me. The one who has cherished you, the one who gives you gifts, the one who nourishes you with love, and verily the one in whom you can experience the Father if only you carry unity, the channel through which you receive the grace of the Lord, you destroy it! What have you achieved by doing it? When it is given to you with love, why should you seize it? Why should you on the top of it, insult?” He was very severe with the disciple and said: “Don't show your face to me, till you rectify”.

The Look Of The Father

In our own horoscopes we can find this kind of misunderstanding or lack of comprehension in the sixth house. Our natal sixth house indicates it. In the eighth house our limitations are indicated, and misunderstandings are indicated in the sixth house. This is the misunderstanding that we carry about Nature; as a consequence, we cannot experience its emanations and their beauty, its beauty in form, its beauty without form which is love, and its beauty as unity.

When once we realize this, She draws us near; that means, She takes us in her arms. Taking us in her arms is what is depicted as Mary carrying the child Christ. The symbol is age old, as ancient as the beginning of Creation. Nature draws near those who understand and respect its Laws, and hence She takes us into her bosom. Then She nourishes us further and thereafter She hands us over to the Father. This is called the approach through the Mother to the Father.

If we kick the Mother and go to the Father, the Father will kick us twice. In the beginning we shall have to find the Father in the Mother. The look of the Father is through the love of the Mother.

For the moment let us take our quality of love as the Mother. When we look at people with that kind of love, what is it, that is really looking through our eyes? The Father or the Spirit only is looking through. The eyes of the Mother are the channels for the Father to go through and to permeate. In fact, the Father permeates only through the eyes of the Mother. The whole Creation happens just through Her looks. This is a phenomena which is considered as “the immaculate conception”, which is very gullibly and confusingly propagated.

The Immaculate Conception

The immaculate conception is 'creating through eyes', that means, .the Spirit itself flows out and causes ”., the creation as Light. If we observe the fishes, how they' create and how they nourish the eggs, they do it through the eyes.

Today we see so many aeroplanes flying, making the sky very busy. Today it is not difficult to build an aeroplane. The formula is already given, so we are only making an imitation, or “photocopy”. But who has invented the aeroplane? We say, the Wright Brothers, but we saw in Latin America that there was another man, Mr. Santos Dumont, who conceived it earlier, and he is not known. This is how they say. They say, they invented the aeroplane, but why the thought of inventing an aeroplane dawned on them? They saw the birds flying and the idea came: “Can we not fly?”

This dawning of an idea resulted in creating something. What happened? They have visualised an aeroplane before they prepared it. First they visualise and then they bring it out. Without visualization, there is no bringing out. This visualization is what is called the first conception, which is called perception or Pasyanti in Sanskrit. Before it was visualised, where was it? It was there, but it did not descend into us. The whole Creation is thus said to be the visualization of the World Mother. The world Scriptures carry this phenomenon of the World Mother, which is the original concept of the immaculate conception. That is how everything is visualised and created with the Father as the substance. The substance is sacrificed as all this; hence this is also filled with IT only. When this understanding is lacking, we see it as different from THAT.

The Planes Of Existence

The cyclical emanations, the periodical series of emanations, bring down the Creation to its gross level, and through periodicity it is retraced. It is like vapour becoming water and water becoming an ice block. Though the form is different, the substance is the same, with a difference in state. These differences in state are explained as the planes of Existence. It is the Existence only in different states, in different planes. These are the Lokas in Sanskrit, or planes of Existence.

When we speak about the planes of Existence, we are more with its adjectives than with the Existence; that is the problem. We say physical plane of Existence, emotional plane of Existence, astral plane of Existence, mental plane of Existence, Buddhic plane of Existence, love plane of Existence or Nirvana plane of Existence, that is, the plane of blissful Existence; then, Para Nirvanic plane of Existence or Existence as Soul, and Maha Para Nirvanic plane of Existence, which is the plane of the Spirit in Creation. Then there is the eighth plane, which is beyond Creation and is called the Absolute Existence.

What is it that is common between all these planes? The word Existence; that is, Truth. HE is called the ONE in all the planes, but in different states. Whether it is ice block, vapour, or water, what is the substance? Water only. We can imagine any number of them. Likewise cotton, fibre, cloth, and we get into form. In an excellently designed cloth, who remembers the cotton? If one remembers, he is blessed. We are attracted to the design, to the colour, at best we recognize it as cloth. Who bothers about the fabric? It is so subtly existing. Who bothers about the cotton? Who bothers about the detail of the cotton? The one who knows is not bothered about it, but is in association with it. In all these planes he is associated with Existence, but not only with adjectives.

Even when we speak, we normally avoid that part of the concept which is the true part, and take to the adjective part. We say emotional to emotional Existence, or we say: “He is more mental” to mental Existence. We also use the word mental for madness. Even madness is a state of Existence only. Then we say Buddhic. Why don't we say Buddhic plane of Existence, which is the complete aspect of it? That means, we see the qualities, but we do not see THAT which is beyond the qualities.

All this exists within that girdle which was not properly appreciated by Hercules and by anyone of us. If we are asked to meditate upon the Mother, our meditation is not the way it is intended by Nature. We have to contemplate upon the Mother as form, as quality, and then as Light, because it is through Light the qualities descend and through qualities the forms descend. Instead, we meditate upon the names. One says Mary, another says Parvathi or Sarasvathi, yet another says Minerva. In every theology there is the Mother aspect which should be understood in its right perspective. It is only through the Mother we can see. The inevitability of understanding the prominence of the Mother aspect is there. When this is neglected, the Teacher has to admonish the student; hence the student has to rectify.

Pleasing the Mother

The students on the Path to discipleship have much to learn in this labour. The Mother Divine exists as Light, as qualities and as forms. The hatred towards certain forms, towards certain qualities, obstructs our reaching the Light. In Creation everything has its fitness. We should not hate any form or any quality, because it has its role to play. Even in us there are undesirable qualities. Work intelligently to overcome them. By hating and by admonition, they grow stronger in us.

The limitations need to be recognized, understood and intelligently tackled. This is the higher aspect of Mercury, the lord of Virgo. Be intelligent to overcome than to condemn, hate, and admonish anything in you or around you.

The students on the Path negate many things. Please remember, as much as we negate, so much we are negated. If we negate Nature, Nature negates us. If we neglect money, money neglects us. If we neglect health, health neglects us. The Path to Truth is one of inclusion by assimilation, and is not one of confrontation. Nature does not permit the entry into the Path to the ones who negate family and social responsibilities. Nature, is impermeable to those who wish to conquer, and it is permeable to the ones who abide by the Laws. Self-torture, self-denial, self-negation and self-condemnation are considered as acts of utter ignorance. Synthesis demands inclusion but not exclusion. Creation is allright, for it is Nature-made. We are not so very allright, and hence we need to rectify. If we rectify and align, the beauty and the splendour of Nature reveals to us. Remember what Pythagoras said: “Reduce one fool before you die, and it is no other than you!” If we overcome our foolishness, there is little to fight, little to seize, little to negate.

By pleasing the Mother, one can reach the Father easily and with facility!, and felicity!! Fighting with the Mother leaves us in pain and in bruises. That is why in the East it is said: “to realize one-Self, the hurdles are within and not outside. Overcome them in the Light of the One who overcame! No one is recommended to leave vocations, family and the related responsibilities to realize the Self. Like Hercules, every student should know to rectify these aspects.

Preferences

In the second passage of the labour, Hercules is said to have rectified this by saving a woman from the danger of being killed. In the beginning he killed the Mother, now he saved the Mother. He gained the understanding of the Mother in him, which he lost by his negligence, and as he rectifies, he once again got into the presence of the Master. The Master said: “You have slaughtered the Mother who offered love and gifts to you, and you have saved the one who was going to be killed”. This is a very important statement coming from the Tibetan Master.

There are some who cherish you that live around you. When you are a disciple you are concerned about saving others or attending to those who are in need of you. But there are also people who cherish you. They have no need of you, but they cherish you. How do you respond to them? The ones who cherish you, bring you gifts from time to time. There are two aspects you find in Nature, those who cherish you and those whom you cherish. We care more for the second category arising out of our preoccupation about service, about love, about sacrifice, which should be equally distributed to those who cherish you.

For example, imagine a disciple who has a big group to serve, but he has also family and children. This is a normal situation for every group member. Whom do you prefer? If you prefer anyone, you are at a loss. More often the family is neglected for the group. In the group there is your need. In the family there are people who cherish you. The life partner and the children, they cherish you and they want you. In the group, there are people who cherish you and who need you. To get only preoccupied with those who need you, and not to understand the importance of those who cherish you, is a partial understanding of the Truth.

The Threefold Aspect Of Nature

It is also very common that one's own mother cherishes us and loves us, and we love those whom we need as our own life partners. As parents we love our children, and our children, when they grow older, will love some others. We nourish them, we bring them up, and we continue to pour all our love and admiration on them, and they pour it outside! That is why it is said, the one who can treat equally the mother, the wife, and the daughter, is the one who has success. We try to protect the child, and we admire our own wife, so we live with! her, but very often we forget the mother who has given us the basis. These three are three big symbols in one's own life.

The World Mother is presented to everyone through four forms. One form is that of the mother, the second form is the co-born as sister, the third one is the lady whom we admire, and the fourth is the one who comes through us. With the mother our status is that of a child. With the sister and the wife our status is that of equal. With the child our status is that of the father. How do we interact with all these three? There is one who wants to dominate us among the four. I am not speaking about mother, wife, sister, and children as such, but in a symbolical way. Normally we are more affected by the partner, and we do not care so much for the one who has brought us up. The one who can treat and serve the mother, the wife, and the daughter equally, is the one who has gained the step, overcoming the threefold aspect of Nature.

The Birth Of The Body Of Light

The mother has given us the form. It is the form aspect of Nature, which is represented by Taurus. Then we are given the love by the mother, which later we derive from our life partner (let us hope so). That is the second aspect of the mother, the love which is represented by Virgo. When the form aspect and the love aspect are worked out well, there is the birth of the child in the third earthy sign, called Capricorn, because Capricorn is the fifth house to Virgo, which stands for progeny. When we have realized the first and second aspect of Nature, the child is born. That is the body of Light, which is represented by our daughter. There is the body of Light as a product arising out of our functioning with equanimity with the form aspect and the love aspect of Nature.

When we work out the first two aspects, there is the birth of the third aspect in us, which is called the body of Light. That is what is said to be the birth of the Saviour in Capricorn. In Capricorn we have the birth of the Saviour enacted every year, for which the basis is in Virgo. The Mother and the Saviour are spoken almost together.

One word of caution, please. The feminine form in Creation is a special symbol of the Mother. Let us not hurt any feminality. If we do so, we are at default. We should not be the cause of sorrow to any woman. They have a privileged status in the occult discipline. Misbehaviour with a female is costly!

The Seven Planes

These are the details which need to be worked out in one's own life, if we wish to gain the beauty of Virgo. The beauty of Virgo, the sixth house, is kaleidoscopic. It is like an “Eastman Colour Movie”, as it has seven colours in it. That is why the rainbow is given as a symbol of Virgo. The Mother with the aura of the rainbow behind her, to remind us that: “I exist in all the seven planes in variety. All the seven are ME only”. When all the seven are visualised together, see how the joy springs from within.

Likewise when all the seven planes are. seen as the aspect of “Father-Mother”, the joy is complete. We reach the state which is called “Anasuya”, and this state is experienced on the planet today only by two beings. To others it is not yet. That is the state which is experienced by Lord Maitreya and Lord Dattatreya. The sevenfold aspect of the Mother in association with the Father is fully realized. That is where it is also said that they are beyond the Seventh Initiation.

Father-Mother

The labours of Virgo should enable us to accept the material activity in total. Accepting is different from hugging it. Acceptance is an attitude. We should not have a situation of non-acceptance vis a vis the material and its quality. Beyond the form of the material and its quality there is the Light of the Creation. If we deny the first two, the third is never a reality to us. This is where normally we fail, and hence astrology appropriately says: “The sixth house gives you an illusion and a misunderstanding. The areas where you are ignorant, where you need to throw some more light”. When we have a good realization of the sixth house, we shine like the full moon in a clean sky. That is why it is said that the Virgo Full Moon is the moon of the Creation. Moon here is a blind for Neptune. Moon is a satellite that keeps reflecting; it reflects Venus, Neptune, and it reflects that blissful experience of life, called Soma. Soma means Sa Uma, the ONE who lives with the Mother and who is called THAT.

Even THAT is reflected to us when we accomplish our contemplation upon the Mother. That is where equal importance is given for worship of the Mother and the Father. There has to be an approach where both are equally respected, worshipped, contemplated, and realized.

This is the labour which is to be worked out by every disciple, where there is the inclusion of the two aspects of Creation, which is shown in the sixth labour. In the sixth labour the understanding is evened out, limitations are worked out, and misunderstandings about Nature are cleared.

When we start speaking about the World Mother it is again a very big concept. The limited understanding that Hercules suffered is described in the sixth labour and is recorded to caution those who seek Truth. The beauty of the stories of the Initiates is that they clearly highlight where they have faltered, because they are concerned that we should not falter at the same point in the journey. The Initiate highlights his faults besides what he has gained, only to ensure that when we reach that point we carry that understanding, so that we do not falter. Please don't negate anything relating to the material activity, and kindly make an understanding of its fitness. It is the dull philosophy which negates things. Let us not grow dull, and let us remain cheerful with the Mother aspect, which reflects the Father. In the labour of Hercules it is said that all these women worship the moon and nothing else, meaning, worshipping the reflecting principle which reflects the ONE beyond the Light.

The Inversion

The Teacher asked Hercules to fetch the wild boar. The path of the zodiac is one thing, and the evolution of the Soul has another order. The labours of Hercules are in correspondence with the zodiacal signs. The zodiacal signs, as we see, have an interior order. That which is interior is different from that which is exterior. That is how it is. Normally what we see gets reversed in the interior. That which we see as right is left in the other plane. That which we see as left is right in the other plane. It is a tricky thing, because each plane as it involves into the next lower plane, undergoes inversion.

Each time there is a reflection, an inversion is happening. We have many inversions and consequently we are in the physical plane. The labour of fetching the wild boar carries in it the repetition of the story as it happened in the beginning, because Libra is the counterpart of Aries.

Aries is the man, Libra is his lady. In Aries it is said, that it is the woman in man. Man is projected, and the woman is inside. In Libra, it is the woman, and the man is within the woman. Man in woman is Libra and woman in man is Aries. The man of Aries seems to be so very powerful exteriorly, but interiorly he is very sober. The woman of Libra seems to be very tender and soft, but inside she is very strong. Man thinks that he is powerful. It is true that he is power-full, as the power which is the lady is fully inside. A man is a woman inside, and a woman is a man inside. Man is stronger in the exterior than the woman, and woman is interiorly stronger than the man.

Man does not realize this in the beginning. He thinks that woman is a very soft energy who can be easily moulded and handled, but slowly he realizes that instead he gets handled by her! It is in the Nature of things that woman is soft outside and strong inside, and man is the other way. Thus, the Libra lady and the Aries man, are wife and husband. They represent the Summer Equinox and the Winter Equinox. The Winter Equinox is seemingly cold, but it puts us to heat. When the exterior is cold, the interior is warm. In the Summer Equinox, the exterior is warm and the interior is cold or full of sweat, cooling the system. What we feel in Aries can also be felt in Libra, as it is only a reflection of Aries. That is why, when we spoke of Aries, we spoke of regulating the wild mares, and here it is a wild boar. Meaning, here also, there is the wild aspect of the senses once again getting into the passions.

The Light in Darkness

Once we enter into Virgo we have already the evening hours. We will be into darker hours still in Libra and into the darkest hours in Scorpio. Thus, we are entering into the dark hours of our life. In the drama of the Solar God there is the dawn in Capricorn, the noon in Aries, the dusk in Cancer, and then the midnight in Libra. That is the reason why Libra is associated with the woman energy. It can crush us under the illusion of material and it can also mark the Light in darkness.

One aspect of the Mother is called “the Light in Darkness”. Just as we started with Aries, I told you, that there is a period of 15 days where we need to keep the senses and the mind oriented towards Light. Similarly with the Winter Equinox, we are strongly recommended to do the same ritual which we have done in the Summer Equinox, starting with the Libra New Moon and concluding with the Libra Full Moon. The 15 ascending phases of the moon shall have to be oriented towards the Light, so that we can walk through the second half of the year without being ruffled with the illusion of the material.

We have to go through the make-believe world in Libra, which is a tougher situation. To function in the daylight is not so difficult, but to function in the pitch darkness of the night is what is proposed to us in the months of Libra-Scorpio. The need for Light is much more and the grace of the Mother is such, that even 'a small Light will give us a big support in pitch darkness. Even a small candle which we have on the altar is very helpful

For our functioning in a dark night, while it is not of such use in the daylight.

The moment we think of the Mother, she gives us a spark of Light and that is enough when we are in darkness. The Mother is generally impermeable; it is very difficult to overcome the illusion of the Mother or the matter. That is why she is called “Mother Impermeable” in Libra. In the East, the other name for that Mother is Durga. She is depicted as mounting on a lion, and she is the threshold into the illusion of life, as she stands between that which is Truth and that which is illusion.

In so far as the Mother energy is contemplated during the first 15 phases of the moon in Libra, we are given the way through. Whoever is encountering the illusion of the material, eventually shall have to remember the Light. If we do not remember, the energies that Libra offers are such that we will very easily ski into passion. It is not walking into it, it is not even slipping, it is just skiing into it, taking us into the bottomless pit! The Libra - Scorpio is the pit into which everyone will fall, through passion, when we are disconnected with the thread of Light.

The need for the thread of Light to continue with us during the dark hours is an important step, which is recollected to us through the story of Hercules. The importance of recollecting the Light is emphasised in the sun sign Libra.

The Passion in the First Decanate of Libra

When Hercules went to fetch the wild boar, he went to the West!, and, on the way, he was invited for a drink by a friend. Hercules joined the friend, forgot about the boar and drank up to the nose, forgetting himself. He forgot that he is a son of God and that he is a son of man; that means, he was reduced to the animal state.

There is the animal man, the human, and the divine. Hercules has systematically relinquished the two states, arising out of the passion into which he has fallen. It is not possible that a man who walked into the cave in Leo and who neutralized the polarities in Gemini, falls into such a thing. It is also not possible for a man who came out of the cave to kill the lady as he did in Virgo. This clearly proves that the Path of Progress is hidden within the zodiacal path.

Now he is very passionate, like a beast. That is what Libra offers in its first decanate, passion, passion, and passion. Passion leading to fashions and to wrong understanding of civility, and wrong social values. To tell you the truth, our over-industrialization is one of the baser aspects of the Libra energy. Also our extreme display of fiction, crime, and sex through movies belongs to the first decanate of Libra. The glamour of the city life is controlled by Libra. The glamour of the social life, where certain human values are sacrificed, is an aspect of Libra. The glamour of machine in preference to man is an aspect of Libra. Today we see the lack of wisdom in over- industrialization. Anything in excess is Libra. The excessive aspect sets in because of the passion for the outer life, which puts us away from the natural life. Today man thinks that the jungles are far better than the concrete jungles that we have built in the name of civility. These are all the aspects of Libra representing the fall of man, even from the human values.

This is what is depicted by Hercules' excessive drinking and indulging in a kind of fight in a bar. In all cowboy movies, we see that the fights start in the bars across a glass of whisky. The innkeeper, poor fellow, is the one who suffers. All his chairs, tables, and the bar are destroyed. Nobody pays any attention to him; they don't even pay him, because they settle their accounts with their fists, and then get away. The barkeeper also does not asks for it, because if he asks he will get a fist as an answer.

That is how Hercules behaved in Libra. See what can happen to a man if he is caught in passion, however wise he is. Passion can pull anyone down and no one is an exception. That is the power of the Mother as the illusionary aspect called Maya! Hercules, (since he represents you and me) got into this kind of indulgence at the Seventh Gate.

After the passions had died and the emotions reached normal levels, he recollected his duties. That is how it is with people who go to such places. After all fights, when there is nothing to be done, and no more indulgence can take place (because all is over for the night) during the morning hours they recover to senses. That is how Hercules recollected that he had to go in search of the wild boar, that means, he is ascending into the second and third decanate of Libra.

The Six Pairs of the Zodiac

The twelve zodiacal signs of the solar year are in truth six pairs. When we walk vertically, we can meet either streams of the pairs. We don't have to go through all the twelve, we meet them, even while we go through six. When we take to the circular path, we find twelve points, where we meet twelve different energies, but if we take to the vertical path, we will meet the twelve energies in pairs of six. Imagine the rivers flowing horizontally. When we move vertically we see either currents joining at one point. At one point we meet the two rivers in its opposite currents. Verily it is one river flowing into two directions.

There are six rivers that flow in truth from the vertical column into two opposite directions. When we move vertically we will have taken bath in all the twelve rivers, while we have only touched six points, but if we move circularly, it seems that we are touching twelve rivers. What happens is, we touch the same river twice, just like we meet Aries in Libra again. Like that in the zodiac there are pairs of signs. We don't have really to go through all the twelve labours. If we are intelligent enough, we can go through six labours and say: “I have done the twelve”. It is an opportunity that is offered by Libra, as it is the midpoint of the zodiac, counting from Aries.

(Fig.3)

There is a vertical path available to us, which cuts short the labours. In the process we realize the second half of the zodiac easily. The six pairs will again fold in to three only. Three pairs become six, and six pairs become twelve. There are some interior pathways, by which we shorten the travel. Thus, we have the whole zodiac divided into six pairs by a vertical division. We find two varieties of pairs in the zodiac.

One way of pairing is: Aries-Libra, Taurus-Scorpio, Gemini-Sagittarius, Cancer-Capricorn, Leo-Aquarius, Virgo-Pisces, and there is also another way of pairing from Libra, to make the ascent. When Libra-Aries is taken as the central column, Virgo-Scorpio is one pair. I have frequently spoken of Virgo-Scorpio pair, which is divided by Libra. Libra is the fulcrum point in the Path of Involution. When once the evolution takes place, the fulcrum point is the heart, represented by Cancer-Capricorn. That is how in one Path one sign is the centre, in the other Path the other sign is centre. In the transformation from one Path to the other there is the third fulcrum, which I spoke of as the throat, where we have Gemini-Aquarius.

Now let us see the pairs from below, with Libra as the fulcrum point. On either side we have Scorpio-Virgo, Sagittarius-Leo, Capricorn-Cancer, Aquarius-Gemini, and Pisces-Taurus. Please note that when we pair in either ways, Aries-Libra and Cancer-Capricorn remain the same. That is the Cardinal Cross! It is cardinal and cordial too! It is a different dimension, which we shall not touch now for want of time and of context.

Virgo-Scorpio

In truth, Scorpio and Virgo are one sign, which is separated by Libra. Up to our seventh year, there is no such thing as Libra forming in us. From the diaphragm up to genitals we have only Virgo-Scorpio. From the seventh to the fourteenth year there is the separation of sex happening in the humans, as Libra figures in. The male-female aspect on the physical plane is brought about by the physical plane functioning of Libra. The male- female separation is a consequence of the functioning of the physical plane Libra. Libra as a principle exists from the beginning. The very phenomena of objective emanation is called Libra. Its culmination is what we see in the sign Libra today. Thus, Libra separates man and woman and keeps the attraction through passion. When the Libra energies function in us, there is the inter- attraction between the man and the woman.

The one who has neutralized Libra in him, is like the child between the first and the seventh year. He does not look at women as others do. The one in whom Libra is neutralized has no sexual attraction. His polarisation is not towards sex, but towards something else. Even among children we don't find this aspect during the first seven years. When the boy looks at the girl and the girl looks at the boy, the sting is not there. The sting is also not there in the look of the one who has neutralized Libra. Women can very safely move around him, as he does not generate in them the sexual polarity. They feel a higher relationship with him, which has nothing to do with emotion. That is what we see in the life of Krishna, which cannot be understood by a man of passion. It is transaction of a different variety and has nothing to do with sex.

The Sun Signs

When Libra disappears, the zodiac carries only ten sun signs, which I explained previously number of times. The disappearance of Libra and Virgo-Scorpio becoming one sign, makes a zodiac of ten sun signs, which is called “Eden”, the Garden of Eden, which is hidden in - the twelve signs of the zodiac.

The Neutralization of Libra

There is a way to neutralize Libra and straight away live in the Creation, which is splendorous and beautiful, without being passionate. That is how Adam and Eve were before Libra appeared. Adam and Eve moved like friends in the garden, and the feeling of sex was not there. They were androgynous; they needed nothing from each other; they were not in want of something; they are fulfilled beings. The man in woman and the woman in man are in perfect balance and agreement. All Initiates are androgynous; their woman (or man) are within, and hence they do not look out for woman or man. We look out, for we feel the lack. Objectivity allures and puts us to illusion to gain from outside. That is how the navel (Libra) projects us out. We need to internalize in the occult path, but not externalise passionately through the 5 senses.

Today we are in a situation where if a man and woman move together, there are many suspecting eyes that keep observing, and rightly so. I don't blame them, because Libra is very much there.

Where Libra is neutralized it is one situation, where it is not, it is another situation. The one in whom Libra is neutralized is the one who is called pure, be it woman or man. It is a natural happening. Do not suppress for the glamour of it. When we develop the higher taste for the Light, this lower taste for sex falls off, and then the energies have no more a downward flow; on the contrary, they have an upward flow, and as they flow up, they also move us up. That is what is understood as raising up the Kundalini.

The Two Tusks of Respiration

That is what is also understood as Hercules following the boar inch by inch towards the North. The boar leads him and he ascends. The other way of saying is the Kundalini is raising and the imprisoned Soul is moving upwards.

Last year I gave a seminar in Germany about the Heart Centre, and there I spoke of Danstrojwala. I spoke of a white boar which with his upward protruding tusks - lifts up the earth. In the Great Invocation we say: “May He lift up the earth to the kings of beauty”. I also spoke of Akshamala. All this is relevant here when we speak of the boar and the ascent. The Eastern symbolism speaks of a white boar lifting the earth up into the Light. The mythology of the Greeks speaks of a boar leading the Soul into higher regions or regions of Light. Thus, when once this Libra aspect of passion has been neutralized, the enchantment is over. Then there is the return of the Soul to the Source.

That is what is explained by Hercules about indulging and then recollecting that he has to look for the boar. The beginning of the ascent is the cessation of the passion. Everyone of us would like to have it. If we say: “Let passion recede or cease”, or if we make an invocation every day saying: “Let passions cease”, they do not cease, and we only recollect them more and more.

The occult science offers a solution, and it is this solution which I keep telling repeatedly, because it is told repeatedly. To bring mind into the interior, we need to work with respiration. To reverse the path of the downward-flowing energies, we also need to work with respiration. With each inhalation we go deep into our own being and with each exhalation we pull up the Being into the Heart Centre. That is how the two anus of respiration are looked at as the two tusks that lift us up. It is not any breathing exercise, where we try to breathe in one unit, breathe out four units etc.; it is a process of conscious breathing. Sitting at a place with a comfortable mind and body, the body should be at comfort while seated, and the mind should have a pleasant attitude.

Please remember, when we make our sittings at 6 o'clock in the morning and 6 o'clock in the evening, the most essential requisite is that the mind should be pleasant, in comfort, and not having complaints. Only such a mind enables a conscious respiration, even in the case of the Libra energies.

Samana Vayu

When we make a conscious respiration, we reach the equilibrium of the pulsation in us. There are four varieties of pulsations in us that are brought together to the centre and that is the fifth one. There is what is called inhalation and exhalation as the vertical line. Inhalation is called Prana Vayu in Sanskrit, which means 'the Air of Prana'. Exhalation is called Apana, as it expels out carbon. The third one is Vyana, which permeates the whole body. The fourth is Samana, the equilibrating pulsation. The fifth one is Udana that enables the upward movement when the first three airs find equilibrium in the 4th. The science of pulsation is an occult doctrine, which we shall touch up on sometime in the future.

Prana (1) moves from the tip of the nose down to the heart and even below. Apana (2) moves in between the base and the navel, and a bit above. Samana moves around the navel. When Prana, Apana and Vyana converge into Samana Vayu, there is the upward thrust to the throat, where Udana activates and elevates the respiring students to higher realms.

The science of Respiration and Pulsation indeed is the key for discipleship, which when practised scientifically the disciple is rid of astral and lower mental currents.

In Libra, Samana Vayu needs to be gained.

(Fig. 4)

The White Boar

When we are in Samana Vayu, there is the escape into the Brahmarandra, and we walk into the inner column of our own structure. This is one secret that is offered to us by Libra.

The Mother who is at the threshold of objectivity and subjectivity (Libra, navel) opens the door for us to walk in. We find a column for ascent, which has on either side the pairs of the sun signs Taurus-Pisces, Gemini-Aquarius, Cancer-Capricorn, Leo-Sagittarius, and Virgo-Scorpio.

Now we see in the column the ascent from the second half of Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. These are the energies which are within the Brahmarandra. That is why the spiritual astrology tells us that after Scorpio the energies do not go further down. Normally the exoteric astrology tells us that Sagittarius represents the thighs, but when we have turned esoteric, Sagittarius is found above Scorpio in the reverse direction. That forms the basis for us to move up. That is exactly where the southern energies of occult nature reside. From Sagittarius to Pisces the spiritual column (Sushumna) exists within the Brahmarandra. The disciple ascends through this column, which is also called the lift up by the White Boar.

Chakras and Lotuses

When there is the involution of energies, we have the Chakras. We find the Eyebrow Centre as Aries. From the eyebrows down to the neck as Taurus, the vocal cords and the shoulders as Gemini, the respiratory and circulatory activity of the blood as Cancer, Leo at the Cave of the Heart, Virgo below the Cave and above the navel, Libra as the navel, Scorpio as the genitals. When there is the involution of energies, we have the whirlpools in the etheric plane. The energy has these centres for expression into glands, hormones, endocrinal system etc.

When we return, that is, in the process of evolution, we don't go by the same road. We have other centres formed that are called the Lotuses. Involution is through whirlpools of energy, which are called Chakras. In the return journey it is the unfoldment of plane after plane that happens. Consequently the unfoldment is an aspect which is reflected as the blooming of a flower. Thus, we have one Lotus above the Base Centre, which is called the Higher Base Centre, as a Lotus with 4 petals.

Cancer-Capricorn take the positioning above the heart. We don't find this in the normal astrology books or even in the normal Yoga books. The Heart Chakra is different from the Heart Lotus. The Heart Chakra functions with the energies of Leo. The Heart Lotus is the centre where we have the Cosmic Energies functioning, and it is called the “Centre of Narayana”.

Gemini-Aquarius form a centre not at the Throat Centre, but above it, in the larynx where there is the secretion of “the juices of immortality”. That is what Master CVV offers. When I say Master CVV, please take it as the Aquarian Energy, because anything, when it is put into language, is symbolic. So, there is the secretion of juices which make us immortal. That Lotus is above the Throat Centre.

Pisces-Taurus is the Lotus above the Ajna or Brow Centre, and it is the birthplace of Indra. The Sahasrara is further above the head, which is known as the “Mani Padme”. There is the Mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum”. There is a gem in the Thousand-petaled Lotus, which pushes the Lotus up. We are the gem that sits in that Lotus and sheds Light allover. It is not the Light in the head; it is the Light over the head.

That is how the process takes place through the steps of Pranayama and Pratyahara. Pranayama gives us the state of equilibrium of the pulsations. Then there is the absorption of the Being into the interior chambers, and that is what is called Pratyahara. Then we get into the state where we hold the body, while today we feel that we are in the body. This state is called Dharana. Just like we feel that we are holding the clothing, we feel that we are holding the body. We are not in the body. That which we hold we can leave it for a while and pick it up again. When we hold it, we can drop it, and if we want we can pick it up. That is how in the Dharana step man rests the body, moves around and again gets into it, if he wants to work through it. To him the body is a vehicle. This is a reality. Just like we get into the vehicle, function and come out of it. For purposes of functioning he gets into it, otherwise he need not necessarily be in it. Then he ascends to the step of Dhyana, where he is in contemplation of the Universal Energy, and thereby he reaches the state of Samadhi.

The Spiritual Marriage

The whole Yoga process finds its direct expression through the energies of Libra; which is an ascent described in the story of Hercules as the boar is moving inch by inch to the peaks, and Hercules is following it. That is the story of Libra. When we reach the top, what happens at the top? In the North Pole there is the husband, and in the South Pole there is the lady. The lady of Libra has come up to the ram of Aries; hence the ram has no more place and it disappears. Then the lady gets into the higher marriage with the King of the Universe. That is the spiritual marriage.

In the Mahabharata it is symbolically said that there was a princess called Gandhari. When she was born, an astrological chart was prepared. The king consulted the astrologers and they said: “When this lady marries, the husband will die”. The king was upset and said: “No, no; I can't accept this”. He told the astrologers: “Give me a way out of this problem”. The astrologers consulted each other and said: “Oh King, marry your daughter to a ram, and since there is an aspect in her chart that the husband dies, the ram will die. Then carry out a second marriage to the king emperor”.

This is the story of Libra. As she ascends in the Path, there is no such thing as North and South Pole anymore. North is North to South, and that which is South is no more South now; where is the question of North? The South reaches the North, and it has to find a higher North now. That is how, through intelligent functioning with the energies of Libra, we can have a spiritual marriage!

Many times in the West I hear of ladies saying t, that they have found their spiritual husband! I also hear sometimes a man saying that he has found a spiritual wife!! It is funny. In the Scriptures there is no such thing as finding a spiritual wife. The Scriptures speak of a spiritual marriage with the Man of the Universe, the Cosmic Man. When there is a spiritual husband, then the human logic functions and concludes that there should be a spiritual wife, too. So people are busy finding spiritual wives and spiritual husbands, other than their husbands and wives! Don't you hear such terminology among the group members sometimes? That is the latest fashion of the passion of Libra, and there is no end to our fashions, you know. According to the passion, we create fashions. The latest fashion that I am informed of is regarding these spiritual wives and spiritual husbands.

Even the Masters of Wisdom perhaps in their Ashram would ask each other: “Is there any such thing anywhere in any Scripture of the world? Our disciples seem to be wiser than us; they found certain concepts which we never found, in spite of all the symbolism, all the esoteric astrology, and all wisdom that we carry”. In the evening, when the labours are over, even the Masters gather sometimes to cheer each other, and during that time they exchange such things. One asks the other: “What news?” Then the other Master says: “Today I am more enlightened”. The other says: “Please, enlighten me also” He replays: “The spiritual aspirants on the planet gave me a concept of spiritual wife. Are you interested?” Please, don't think, that the Masters of Wisdom are serious figures; they are Masters even in humour. Nobody can beat them in any concept, in any aspect. They have their own jokes during the even tide.

Some Keys Relating to Libra

Let us get back to our story of Libra. If we see in this context, we find that the ruler of the first decanate of Libra is Venus, where there is the attachment to the form. The ruler of the second decanate of Libra is Saturn. That is why Saturn in Libra is considered exalted. He gives us the necessary discipline. In the third decanate, once again we have Venus as the ruler, because now we see the beauty and the splendour of the Creation without passion. Blessed is the one who has Venus in Libra in the third decanate. He is blessed, because he has conducted the labours previously relating to Saturn. This is one way of looking at astrological charts. Venus in the third decanate of Libra is an excellent situation, where there is no passion, and there is only the love of beauty beyond the form. That is how it is.

Many are the secrets of Libra. The whole bubble bulging like a globe is also an aspect of Libra. Emergence of a point and becoming a space globe is an aspect of Libra. An emergence of an impulse becoming a planetary globe is an aspect of Libra. The growth from the centre to the circumference is an aspect of Libra. It simultaneously happens in all its 360 dimensions. The point bulges on all sides, from centre to circumference and from circumference to centre. The key is held by Libra. When the key is known, Libra functions in the Heart Centre, but not in the Solar Plexus!

Spirit And Matter

The keynote of the eighth is 'disappearance'. This disappearance is twofold: the spirit disappears into matter as a result of which we have the world of form, and the form or matter disappears into spirit. This is the work of time.

Through time there is the play of spirit and matter. One disappears into the other, but there is no such thing as total absence of anyone of the two, namely spirit or matter. Please don't think that there is a state where there is only spirit and no matter. Also please don't think that there is a state where there is only matter and no spirit. It, is a question of relative predominance.

When we say Consciousness, it is abundant spirit covered by transparent matter. When we say gross material, it is abundant material with almost an insignificant dosage of spirit in it. Many think that the subtle matter, when it gets condensed, becomes the gross matter. The other understanding is the subtle matter becomes gross due to a gradual withdrawal of the spirit. (Please, also refer to the seminar on “Agni”, given in Germany in 1991).

That is how the fire functions. The more is the fire, the more is the Light. The less is the fire, the more is the matter. When there is much material, spirit is almost in the state of non-appearance - it is the gross material world. So, there is the disappearance of the spirit, and likewise there is also a state where matter does not seem to be there. The disappearance of matter is what we see as the Space between you and me. We feel that between, two objects or between two material manifestations, there is a kind of nothingness. Those who see, see that nothingness as THAT.

Loopholes of Awareness

Matter causes a kind of suspension of that spirit which is ever present. In its gross state it breaks the

continuity of the spirit; that is how there is the relative loss of the spirit, and it is called “the hole in Consciousness”. That hole is called the hole of death. There is an occult statement which says: “Death is a loophole of awareness”. Absence of Consciousness is death. There is the matter, which makes a relative break of the continuity of Consciousness, and that is what happens in the eighth house.

“Fohat digs holes in Space”, is another statement. When holes are dug, gradually they form themselves into gross planets, as we see, and it gives way for grosser manifestation of material. In the eighth house, which is called Scorpio, there is the disappearance of spirit and the appearance of the gross material. When. I say disappearance, it is not total, but relative. This relative disappearance of spirit causes heaviness to the material. That is how the whole thing touches the ground, as it is said, and it happens through time.

The Serpent Of Time

This formation of matter from subtle to gross is symbolically stated as the downward movement of the serpent, called time. Its reverse path is called the upward movement of the serpent. There is an understanding that the formation of all these planets arose out of the dust that fell from the tail of the snake; that means, it is almost at the deepermost or the lowermost point of time that brings us to the gross material Existence -which is called the midnight hour.

In the year, Scorpio is taken as the period after the midnight hour, while Sagittarius is already towards the dawn, and Capricorn is the dawn. Two hours before the dawn is Sagittarius, and two hours before Sagittarius is Scorpio. Two hours before Scorpio is Libra; so, the period after midnight is Scorpio. In fact, it is the period of time most difficult for anyone of us to remain wakeful. Up to midnight it is okay, and even up to two o'clock in the morning, but the most difficult period is between 2 and 4, which is represented by Scorpio. Between 4 and 6 it is Sagittarius, and 6 0' clock is Capricorn. This time is valid on the equator. We have to make adjustments according to the latitude in which we are.

Thus, 6 in the morning is Capricorn, noon is Aries, evening 6 is Cancer, and midnight is Libra. It is a common experience that people who are capable of working hard, can remain awake even up to 2 0' clock, but the period between 2 and 4 is difficult to remain wakeful. Again, from 4 o'clock it is not so difficult to be conscious or wakeful. That speaks of the power of Scorpio, where it is difficult for the spirit to be present abundantly.

The Withdrawal of Consciousness

Absolute darkness leads to absolute Light also, which is the other aspect of Scorpio. We cannot take that Scorpio is only darkness, because it carries not only the symbol of the serpent, but also the symbol of the eagle that soars into the sky. Generally Scorpio marks that state where there is a loophole in awareness - forgetfulness relating to our Existence. It is only our forgetfulness relating to our Existence, but it is not our non-existence. We do exist, but we do not remember. That is the state of utter gross material state, which is referred to in the Scriptures as “the sin”. Sin means that act or that state which is lacking of Consciousness.

If we take opium, it causes that state, and straight away we can get into that state of disappearance of Consciousness. If we are given anaesthesia, the spirit recedes into its centre; that is how onions also cause the arresting of permeation of Consciousness, like tobacco, and poison! What happens when we are stung with poison? It is a withdrawal of Consciousness, which is called death. Death is nothing but the disappearance of Consciousness. In so far as we live without this Consciousness relating to our own Existence, it is said that we are dead. That is why the Scriptures say: “There are many who are the living dead”.

Most of the beings are mobile graveyards, mobile tombs; that means, the conscious functioning is absent. We do live to other things than to Consciousness. That is why from the standpoint of the Initiates we are not considered as living, and we are called the living dead. This is because our Existence is to the states of involution relating to Existence, but not to the state of Consciousness relating to Existence.

Vertical and Horizontal

Those crawling serpents which are very proximate to the earth belong to Scorpio, because their proximity to the material is too much. All crawling creatures come under the category of Scorpio. We will be made to crawl when we lose Consciousness. When Consciousness is lost we cannot stand vertical. We become horizontal, and even if someone puts us vertical, we again fall horizontal.

This gives us a clue, that to be horizontal is to be material oriented and to be vertical is to be spirit oriented. When we are horizontal, we are more tending towards material. When we are vertical, we are tending more towards spirit. Even among the creatures which are horizontal, those who crawl with their belly on the earth are more proximate to the Scorpio energy than those which walk with four legs. Though the four-legged beings are also horizontal, they keep a distance from the earth, but there are other creatures which are horizontal and totally proximate to the earth.

Then, imagine the creatures which live in the holes of the earth, the snake holes and other holes, but the beauty is that there are also holes called Cave Temples. Where there is absolute matter, there is the possibility for the absolute spirit also. That is the secret which we have to know.

The Double Possibility

In the darkest night the smallest lamp will give the biggest light. That is the beauty of it. Proximation to darkness need not be seen as a state of distance to spirit, because the two are inseparable. It is a question of orientation; that is why in this age called “the Darkest Age” or Kali in Sanskrit, a little sincere occult practice helps us to gain Light, while it is not so in the other ages,

like Krita and Treta Yuga. The practice is more laborious than in Kali.

An apparent disadvantage carries its advantage, and an apparent advantage carries its disadvantage also. We should always remember this truth. That is why in the selfsame areas of Scorpio we have the Cave Temples, and we also have the habitats of the Initiates, and the world's most Sacred Scriptural Libraries are also in those Caves, to which the axis can be gained according to our orientation. The two possibilities remain very proximate to each other, and they are at their extreme. That is why Scorpio offers a double possibility, either to be a serpent, that can withdraw into a hole, or a winged serpent, which can soar vertically into the sky. It is a question of orientation.

The Nine-Hooded Serpent

Hercules was asked to deal with a serpent, called Hydra, who lived in the netherworld. It is said, that it had nine hoods. The Teacher told him: “I now entrust you with a labour which is a very dangerous one. It has the possibility for your death. In this labour it is possible that you die, but at the same time it also affords you a possibility to soar high vertically. Go down into the nether regions and find the serpent. Understand that the serpent is very powerful. Make sure that you cut off its heads. It seems to carry three heads, but within each head there are two more heads. When you cut one head, two more will appear. When poise is disturbed, you have inertia and dynamism playing active roles. When you cut all the nine heads, you will have one head appearing again. Any number of times you cut that head, it re-manifests. Leave the ninth head after cutting it. Then you have completed the labour”.

The Nine Ruffians

I spoke of these nine hoods of the serpent many times and from many angles. I spoke of these nine ruffians, and it has been elaboratedly recorded in the book “The Aquarian Cross”. These are the nine which we have to encounter on our way to the Light. These are all very powerful energies present within us, working against us. Working against us when we are in pursuit of Light, but working with us when we are in pursuit of matter.

These nine are given as three triangles, and they relate to the three lower worlds, of which in the first triangle we meet the ruffian of physical comfort, money, and sex. These are the three ruffians or the three obstructions on our way to the spirit. There is nothing wrong with them; it is a question of our orientation towards them. When the fitness of them is well realized, they do not condition us. Otherwise we get conditioned by them. The first of the triangles is the physical conditioning of the matter, and sex is the predominant factor in it. The one who has sexual urge tends more towards matter. Sex has its own purpose in Creation, but when the purpose is forgotten, then it leads us to gross physical and grosser physical existence. Likewise a craving for comfort binds us to the physical.

So also the craving for money. Many people are handled by these three ruffians, instead of handling them. We want to handle money, but money handles us mostly. I don't have to elaborate on these, because they are well known to us. These are all the powers of Nature, which we should know how to make use of. When the know- how is lost, we are suspended in the material. To be in the material is no sin, but to get suspended in the material is the sin aspect. The word sin is too much used, and hence we have an aversion to it. The other name for sin is ignorance. On account of our ignorance relating to the use of money, comfort, and sex, we lose our Path of Ascent to subtler planes of Existence. It is very difficult to handle them until and unless the know-how is gained.

In the emotional plane of Existence we have ambition, which is excessive desire, fear and hatred. These three make every Soul to get suspended in the emotional plane of Existence. In the mental plane of Existence one gets suspended too; that is why we remain mostly mental. The suspension is arising out of pride, which breeds prejudice as its twin brother and which results in separative consciousness. We feel ourselves very special in contrast to others. Separative consciousness arising out of pride and prejudice leaves one in suspension in the mental plane of Existence. So, it does not allow us to walk into the subtler planes where there is more Light than material.

Abused Words

When we walk into the Buddhic plane of Existence, there is more Consciousness and less matter, which is called the state of Light. Light is a reflection of Consciousness in the subtlest of the matter, and that is what is called Akasha or the Astral Light. Astral is another word which has been abused in the last hundred years. We have now. come to a state where we have brought down the understanding of astral to our emotional body. The original dictionary word about astral is Light.

Karma is another word that is abused. In Kali Yuga sublime concepts are distorted and degenerated. In the age of Kali the sublime concepts are given distorted meanings. Karma is understood as personal karma, as the one that conditions us, but its original meaning is not that at all. The action in Creation is what is referred to by karma, but today we use it in another way.

Tantra is one such sublime concept that has been debased and insulted. Yoga is also like that, being now put to degeneration. Yoga is the state of unity, and that is the original state of the being. Today we use the word” Yoga for some mere physical exercises. We even go up to the extent of preparing yogi teas. Incredible is the way the brain functions in Kali Yuga! Since we cannot ascend into the sublimity of the concept, we bring it down to our level. There can be a 'yogi hair cutting saloon' in future, because any new word is a fashion, and we bring it down into our passions.

The suspensions in the mental plane, in the emotional plane, and in the physical plane are arising out of these nine factors.

There is another way of looking at the same subject as our suspension with the matter in its fivefold aspect: our suspension with the solids, suspension with the liquids, suspension with the emotional fire - which is called the frictional fire, our suspension with the air, and our suspension with the ether. These are all the planes of our Existence, in which we are stuck now and then.

These are the five elements or the five states of the Existence: from ether to air, air to fire, fire to water, and water to matter. This is the path of involution, in which gradually matter gains and spirit loses. Beyond this ether, is the mind. This mind is of two types: the lower mind and the higher mind. How many heads have we landed up to? The five aspects of the elements, the sixth one as the lower mind, the seventh one as the higher mind, the eighth one as the source of the higher mind, called the Soul individual. Beyond that is the ninth one, the Soul Universal. These are the nine heads which are represented by the serpent. At any given time, anyone of the eight heads may disappear, but the ninth will not.

The Son

The Universal Consciousness remains, and from out of it, there is the displacement, causing the states of Existence. The Universal Light is projecting as a Light, just like our sun. Our sun is a Light of the Universal Light. The Universal Light, if we count from the other side, is twofold or twin-natured: the Father-Mother spirit - because it is still Light, meaning that there is the Mother aspect within the Father aspect. When the Mother is in the Father, it is called the Universal Consciousness, the Universal Light or the Universal Soul. In contrast, in the gross material plane, we have the spirit in matter.

In the state of the Universal Soul, there is the matter in the spirit. In the most sublime state of Existence, it is the Mother in the Father. In the grossest state of Existence, it is the Father sleeping in the Mother. These are the ancient-most symbols of worship in the East. One is called Krishna, the other is called Kali. In the gross material state the spirit sleeps in matter. In the most subtle state of Universal Consciousness matter rests in the spirit. Who is resting in whom decides the state of Existence.

The state of Yoga is, both are equally active and equally resting. That is called the state of the Son, in whom the Father and Mother agree equally.

The Ninefold Existence from Above Downwards

Counting from above downwards we have the Universal Consciousness, which is all-pervading Light or all-permeating Light. From that, there is the projection of a Light, and that is what is called already separative Existence from the Pool of Light. The sun which we see is already separated from the Pool Consciousness, as he is a channel for the Universal Consciousness to reach two planes down below. The sun has his Light.

The sun's Light is what is called Buddhi. Just like there is the sun as a separative centre of Light, each one of us is a separative centre of Light. Each one of us is therefore said to be a sun. The Scriptures say: “Every unit formation is a potential sun”, because we are as much a separative consciousness as that of the sun of our solar system.

Just like the sun has his Light, we also carry our own little Light, which is called the wisdom that is with us. Then it further degenerates into the lower mind aspect in us, which is the general awareness of the bodily requirements.

The lower mind is the one that carries the awareness relating to the bodily requirements. Then we have the next step as the five elements: the etheric aspect, the air aspect, the fire aspect, the water aspect, and the matter aspect in us. This is the ninefold Existence, of which the ninth one is always there in Creation.

The Ninefold Existence from Below Upwards

Let us start once again from the familiar side. The solid state is a state of Existence, and it is also Existence, as even a stone is existing, and Existence is there in it. Then there is the liquid state of Existence, that is there in us and is also there outside us. The solid state is within us and outside, and the liquid is within us and outside. Then the fire is within us and outside. The fourth is the air within us and outside. That means, what is outside is there within us also; likewise the etheric form, ether is there in the outer and is there in our form.

Likewise the lower mind as we carry is also there as the mind of this planet. There is a mind to the planet which takes care of the planet earth. The lower mind in us takes care of the planet earth, called the body. So the mind of the planet takes care of the planet, and the lower mind of the human being takes care of the human body; that means, it always reminds us the requirements of the body. What the body needs is reminded to us through this lower mind.

Beyond the planetary mind, we have the proximate state as the mind of the sun, which is called the Light of the Sun. In us also it exists as the higher mind, as wisdom, or as the Buddhic Plane of Existence. The Light of the sun belongs to the sun, but not to the earth. When we walk into that state of our Existence, the bodily requirements are not so much reminded to us.

That is how for the Initiates the bodily requirements become secondary, because they live .in wisdom, which means, the Light of the Soul, and they do not get reminded about the requirements of the body as much as it is with others. The Light of the sun is inseparable from the sun. The Light of the Soul is inseparable from the Soul. When we are in that state or Buddhic State we are only concerned about the Soul Consciousness. When we walk into that state, which is the Seventh State, we are not reminded of the body requirements. That is how, when the Initiate is in contemplation on the Soul, he is forgetful of the body. That is why I said, if he does not eat, he does not remember that he did not eat. Eating is a requirement of the body, which is reminded to .us when we are in the lower self but the Initiate is in the Light of the Soul, hence he has no more awareness relating to the body and its requirements. That is why he is fasting without the awareness of fasting. The fasting is there, but there is no feeling about the fasting, because he has grown beyond the body requirements. That is the state in which Initiates live for days months and sometimes years, depending upon the length of their contemplation with the Soul. This is how we make a logical understanding of the penances conducted by the Initiates of the past.

Thus, in the seventh state of Existence we are with the Light of the Soul. In the eighth state we are the Soul separative. We are a Soul, but an individual Soul, just like the sun of our solar system, but even he is a projection from the Pool of Consciousness, which is called the Central Sun. The individual Soul is a projection of the Universal Soul. The Universal Soul is number nine, and that is why number nine is considered very important.

Adi Sesha

These are the nine heads of the serpent. It is not the serpent as we understand on account of our information and the memory relating to it. The scriptural understanding of the serpent is totally different from our understanding of the serpent. It is called the Great Dragon or the Great Serpent holding the worlds. It is called “Adi Sesha” in the East. All the eight may appear and disappear in Creation, but HE remains. The original, as it remains, is called Adi Sesha. Adi means 'origin', Sesha means 'the remainder' in Sanskrit. That great serpent that holds all these nine states of Existence is what is referred to in the labours of Hercules.

He was asked to cut off head after head. As he progressed cutting head after head, he was clearing himself from his suspension in matter, in water, in fire, in air etc. Thus, he gradually ascended from the state of matter. The crawling being is now growing vertical like a soaring bird. This bird soared from the grosser to the subtler states as each hood was cut.

The Greeks had the best of the warriors, and hence everything is spoken in terms of war and killing, but they are symbolic. When we are ascending, the lower states do not exist to us. Their non-existence is called their death or the process of conquering and killing, but the ninth remains. It remains as long as there is the Creation, the Universe. That is how number nine is given as the number of the Soul; not the personal Soul or individual Soul, but the Soul Universal.

Beyond that, there is the seeming nothingness, which is called number zero, and that is the God Absolute, while the Universal Soul is called the God in Creation. Number zero or number ten is God Absolute, in whom everything happens. Number nine is the Universal Soul, number eight is the individualised Soul, number seven is the Light of the Soul, number six is the Light of the body or the lower mind. Appropriately it is given number six, because it is a reflection of the above from that point. There is an inversion of the Light of the Soul as the Light of the body. In number five we have the state of Akasha, and in number four we have the state of air. Incidentally the number that rules us now is said to be number four, because we are in the age of air, called the Aquarian Age. Number three is fire; that is why fire is always represented by a triangle. Number two is water, and number one is that with which we are very, very familiar, and we feel very solid about it. In fact, the real solid one is number 1, which is the base for all other numbers. These are the nine hoods of the serpent, which were required to be handled by Hercules.

Hercules handled and struggled with the serpent, but there are two others who danced on the hoods of this serpent; one is Lord Krishna, and the other is Apollo. It is a state of being playful in all these nine planes, which is reached when Scorpio soars high through its opposite sign Taurus, and reaches the Bull's Eye.

The Bull's Eye is located above the Ajna or Brow Centre, and is also seen as the central star of Orion. It is far distant from the other stars of Orion. Since we do not have the third dimension, we see it on the same plane as the other stars. When we see in a two-dimensional way, we cannot see the depth. The stars, as we see in the sky, are not like what we mark on a paper. When we see the stars upon the background of the paper, we cannot see the depth.

The soaring is beyond all these planes of Existence, and therefore we preside over this serpent. That

is the state of these mythological figures. Narayana, the Lord Absolute, is said to be happily sleeping upon the coiled serpent Adi Sesha. The coiled serpent Adi Sesha is represented by the ninefold Creation, and HE is said to be resting over it. That is how the ancient seers have conceived it. It is all a figurative presentation of that which is realized.

But if this figurative imagination is what is to be searched, we don't find it as such. Through time these planes keep happening from above downwards and from below upwards. We have touched the ground in this age, and we are now in the path of retracing the steps'. It has started. That is why it is said that our Brahma has just completed his golden jubilee of 50 years, and he is in the beginning of the second half of his life. In the book “Time The Key” I have given the age of Brahma; that means, the universe in which we are is in the process of retracing.

Please remember that there are series of universes. So, what we speak is relative. Everything is relative from the absolute standpoint. Nevertheless, we have to speak of it, as it puts us in the state of Existence. That is the purpose of all this group life, that we are gradually made to ascend and descend when we go through these concepts.

Savitri

See, we went up to the sun and even beyond the sun and returned safely! This is how we have to understand the involution and evolution aspects of Creation through astrology, and Scorpio gives us the two possibilities. The beauty of Scorpio is that the next step is Light only, as we are proximate to the dawn. We are already in darkness; so, where is the question of another darkness? From Scorpio we walk into the two hours before dawn and then into the dawn. So, every state of darkness is a promise of Light, and every state of Light is a prophecy about darkness. When we are in the dusk hours, we need not really to get depressed. The dusk promises the dawn.

That is what is given as the great epic “Savitri”, which in this century is specifically highlighted by a grand Master called Sri Aurobindo. A concept from the Veda is once again given out in English for the benefit of humanity. It is a good hope for those who wish to walk towards Light. Savitri promises every evening, as the sun sets and there is still some light left in the Western horizon, that

Light gives us the message: “Don't worry, by morning I will bring HIM back to you”. The Light follows the sun. During the dawn hours, we first have the Light and then the sun; that means, the Light follows the sun (the Soul) in darkness and safely brings the sun (the Soul) back into Light in the morning hours.

When we see the dusk, there is the setting of the sun followed by the Light. During the dawn hours, there is the Light preceding the sun. During the dusk hours Light follows the sun. During the dawn hours Light precedes the sun. Daily there is the drama of Savitri conducted, yearly the drama is conducted. Every time, in the month of Cancer, there is the death of the Truth Bearer. Death means disappearance, as we said already. In the evening hours the sun disappears, and that is what is called death. The evening hours of the year are in Cancer. The sun is called the Truth Bearer, because he bears in him that which is beyond him. The sun is not the Truth, but the Truth Bearer. The Truth Bearer disappears into matter in the evening hours. Light or Truth is arrested in the matter.

Then it proceeds till such time we land up in Capricorn, where there is the dawn. During the dawn hours, once again, there is the raise of the Truth Bearer emerging from matter, and that is the Saviour. The drama of death and dawn is conducted on a yearly basis with Cancer and Capricorn as the pivotal points as the Summer Solstice and the Winter Solstice. These are some secrets which we need to tune up to in our being.

The Arch of Light and the Royal Arch

There is the arch from Capricorn to Cancer, called the Arch of Light. It is this arch we find behind every deity as a custom. Every theology and every religion, when they depict their deities, they keep an arch of Light behind them. This Arch of Light is from Capricorn to Cancer, with Aries as its apex. There are rituals on the Solstice days, so that we can walk into the Arch of Light.

The path from Cancer to Capricorn is the other arch, called the Royal Arch. The arch from Capricorn to Cancer, or the Arch of Light, is called Makara Torana in Sanskrit.

These are the two arches, which are also represented as a golden cup and a silver cup. The Arch of

Light .is the golden cup, and the Royal Arch of subtle matter is the silver cup. That is why in all advanced rituals and initiations a silver cup with a golden cap are used. The cup and cap are equal in their size. As much as the cup is, so much is the cap. In spiritual or esoteric schools such cups are used to preserve water for use, so that the soli-lunar energies are presented to us to harmonise our own being.

Secret, Sacred, Simplicity and Silence

Scorpio stands for secrecy, and many are the secret. rituals which are sacred. All these rituals are conducted today on the planet, but they are conducted secretively for the benefit of all. The beauty of Scorpio is that, as it conducts, nothing is seen on the surface. The progress of a Scorpio man is also not seen outside. Everything is conducted inside and worked out for the benefit of others, even without his neighbour knowing it. Noble acts and acts of virtue shall have to be conducted in silence and secrecy.

There are four aspects which make man really progressive, and these four aspects are present in the Scorpio energy; the first is secret, the second is sacred, the third is simplicity, and the fourth is silence. This is how the rituals are carried out on the planet by the ones who know. That is the reason why, even the Masonic lodges, are part of the Scorpio energy on the planet, (a mason is one who conducts himself without being known). A mason is known only by another mason, but not generally by all. A mason who is generally known is a mason who works with cement and mortar. He is the exoteric builder, but this mason is the esoteric builder. The mason knows the mason, the Initiate knows the Initiate. Even if someone says: “I am an initiate”, the real Initiate knows whether it is so or not. The real Initiate never says: “I am an Initiate”, because there is the secrecy and the silence about it.

There are many secret rituals of sublime nature, I to which one can attend to in Scorpio. The ritual of “The Dying God” is a very important ritual, and it is carried out in the month of Scorpio every year. When we enact death, we will experience what it is, and realize that there is no such thing as death. There is also a ritual in Scorpio, which is conducted for birth and for death. When the ritual relating to birth is conducted, we will know the secrets of birth and death. Sublime structures, like pyramids, were used for conducting such rituals.

Ritual and Rhythm

If one tends to be ritualistic in life, he has a chance to link up to the Ritualistic Schools on the planet. To be rhythmic is the pre-requisite of a ritualist. The aversion to rhythm puts people far, far, far away from being ritualistic. Rhythm leads to ritual and ritual leads to the hidden secrets, the secrets hidden in matter. What is the secret that is hidden in matter? That is the Light, the Truth, that are realized gradually. That is exactly what is called occultism.

The pre-requisite is to adapt to rhythm. Aversion to rhythm will put us away, even from the exterior gate of the Temple. The Seventh Ray is the one that brings us nearer to the rhythm. All ritual, magic, ceremonial order, fall in the Seventh Ray work, and Scorpio is Seventh Ray. Magical results can be achieved. Master Djwhal Khul says: “the Seventh Ray can bring in surprising and magical results”.

Please remember that rhythm is different from routine. Routine is a mechanical approach to the daily activity, it is a rotative movement in which we only remain , where we are, all the time; but rhythm is circular and at the same time spirallic in its movement. The circular movement is like the horse moving round the mill. It keeps bearing the load and moving around to prepare the flour or to prepare oil like in the ancient days. It keeps moving on round and round, and it is always there only. That is routine.

Conducting prayer as a routine is different from conducting prayer as a ritual. If the morning and evening 6 o'clock prayers are being conducted as a ritual, we embark upon a spirallic path. If we did not embark upon, it means, we have taken it as a routine.

Rhythm carries the life of freshness in approach. That is the difference between the rhythm and the routine. Each year, as we touch the month of Scorpio, we are in one circle higher than the one before. Every dawn is different, every Scorpio is different. For those who are dead with routine, every morning is the same. They are the ones who are dead in spirit. But there are people who can enjoy every dawn, and they can see the beauty of the dawn on a daily basis for decades.

If some sickly person asks: “Why do you pray daily?”, the one who does prayers regularly smiles, and he does not answer, because there is no purpose served in answering such a question.

The Path of Ritual is called the Spirallic Path, which is called in Sanskrit Anuradha. Anuradha is a constellation of Scorpio!

Time is not only cyclical, it is also periodical; that means, each time we reach the same point, it is not the same point, although it is apparently the same. There is a uniform change in motion, while it is in circular motion. A circular motion that carries uniform change in motion is called periodicity, and that is what gives us the upward progress in a cyclical fashion. That is what Scorpio offers, and all happening is very secretive.

The First Decanate Of Scorpio

For the one who is in the first 10⁰ or the first decanate of Scorpio, it is one of terrible passion. He is

caught and buried in the matter, and to him the ruler is Mars. When Mars is the ruler of Scorpio, we have the animal magnetism in us; that means, through looks and through gestures we attract the opposite sex. That is the skill used. The intentions of a Scorpio can never be known. He is the deepest fellow in the zodiac. He can see others and others cannot see him. If we ask anyone: “What is your sun sign?”, we will immediately answer, but not a Scorpio. Scorpio in the first decanate is secretive, though not sacred. A policeman born in Scorpio is a success, because he can very easily solve the riddles. Also a detective, he can easily catch the thieve. Suppose, a Scorpio is a thieve, he will gain global fame, because it is not so easy to catch him! Secrecy without the sacred qualities is the worst danger in Scorpio.

The key note is secret, whether it is about sacred things or non-sacred things. If he has affairs with others, it is very difficult to know. It is easy for one Scorpio to know about other Scorpio. So, his only enemy is Scorpio, none others, as he can very easily handle others. He handles people with his left hand; It is so easy for him. The power of the magnetism he has is such that he attracts people. He is admired by people, but he never admires others! He is too proud of himself. This is the aspect of the first decanate of Scorpio. He is a proud man, having his own strategies, which he conducts in silence, and it is difficult for others to know. He can handle things at the international level without being known. In Scorpio there can be the best Mafia gang, as also the best Cave Temple and the best Initiates. That is the widest scope it offers.

When it is in the first decanate, the ruler is Mars. Then, if he is to transmute, if he is to transform, he should invite to his house an old man called Saturn. This old man is the wise man generally, wise men are old men. If there is a Saturnian touch to Scorpio, it springs up. Saturn puts Scorpio to development. Saturn is the strictest disciplinarian who helps transmutation.

When once Scorpio falls into excellent discipline, there is no one to beat him. His problem is discipline; he would not like to be bent. What is his disadvantage is his advantage, and what is his advantage is his disadvantage.

The Second Decanate of Scorpio

This is how, when we get into the second decanate, we are pulled on either side. In the second decanate of Scorpio we have complaining compliance to the law. We comply to the natural law, but we have complaints in complying, as it is the personality aspect, where there is always conflict. That which attracts us towards the material is so strong that it is difficult to get discharged from it; but if the discharge is attained through discipline, the rise is like that of a rocket.

The Death in Scorpio

That is what was offered by the Teacher to Hercules as an opportunity. The Hercules of Scorpio had been able to conduct, in the fashion required, to soar high. The Teacher was happy. Hercules cut all the eight hoods of the serpent and also the ninth, but it started manifesting again. That means, he went to the Samadhi state and returned once again to the Dhyana state. Again he tried, and again he got into the Samadhi state for a while, and got back to the Dhyana state. He recollected the teaching of the Teacher: “Let the ninth head remain; even if you cut it, it comes back in Creation. The potential space globe springs from the dormant one. There is the dormant space, from which this potential space springs. It has its duration. During its duration you cannot ascend it, while you are in it. That is what is referred to as the ninth. Even if it is cut off, it comes back. So, complete this labour and come back to me”.

As I said earlier, the 9th hood relates to the Universal Soul, the 8th is the Individual Soul. Hercules,

through Dhyana, when absorbed into the Universal Soul, did not remain. As he regained his identity as Individual Soul, the Universal Soul (the 9th hood) is once again present. When I AM the separative Soul merged in THAT (the Universal Soul), there is no more individual identity. When THAT manifests as I AM, THAT exists again to I AM. I AM becomes THAT. THAT again becomes I AM. It happens eternally during the span of Creation.

I AM is like the wave; THAT is like the Ocean. When the wave merges in the Ocean there is no wave. When the wave emerges, there is the Ocean to the wave. Gradually the wave (I AM) realizes that it is verily the Ocean (THAT), and that by change of state it regains the wave (I AM) state. I AM becomes THAT and THAT becomes I AM. This is the 7th step of Dhyana. When THAT remains, it is Samadhi. After this experience the disciple settles down to the comprehension: “THAT exists as I AM. SO THAT is I AM, THAT I AM. I AM THAT and THAT I AM. Other identities are lost. That is the death Scorpio offers.

Leo-Scorpio

There are many more dimensions of Scorpio, as it is the eighth house from one side, which causes death. But if we take it from Aries to Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Scorpio, it becomes the fifth house, and hence it also affords an opportunity for a Second Birth. There is another fifth house, Leo, where there is scope for the birth of a son of God. Then there is the scope for the birth of the son of God in Scorpio. That is where the work of Leo and Scorpio are complementary to each other. The work that is done by Leo is continued by Scorpio. The work that is done by Scorpio is continued by Leo. If we look at them, they seem to be at square. The square aspect between Leo and Scorpio is in relation to their methodology. They have different methodologies, but the goal is the same.

Since it is the eighth house, it offers a change in life. After seven there is the change as eight. After a week days we have a day to change. We reach a junction point, like the eighth phase of the moon in the ascending and descending order. There are many secrets in number eight, which include the secrets relating to the Christ, but this is quite a subject. The idea was to give a bird's view of Scorpio.

The second half of Scorpio is part of Sagittarius, and it carries the energies of Sagittarius. The first half carries the energies of Libra. This is another way of looking at Scorpio. The first way is to see it in its three decanates' aspect.

The secrets of Scorpio are too many to elaborate. Let us get into silence to comprehend, and come back to pick up the labours of Sagittarius.

To Listen Properly

The ninth labour relates to the activity of the ninth house of the zodiac. The ninth house is considered to be the house of Initiation, an Initiation that leads the son of man on the Path. The Path leads to the realization of one's own ideals and goals.

Sagittarius is the most sacred of the 12 zodiacal signs, and its mysteries are unfathomable. Any amount of ideation about this sign cannot justify it, and it is incapable of being fully expressed, because it is a sign of impression, but not expression. The very ruler of the sign is Jupiter, who gives the expansion of Consciousness through a process of impression of the Word. This is the phenomenon of Sagittarius.

To get impressed by the Word, there is the need to prepare the channel, and one should have ears to hear. The ears should be clean to hear, otherwise, if one thing is spoken, another thing is heard. That is how the utterances are misunderstood, misinterpreted, and

misrepresented.

Just one example; someone telephones and asks: “I would like to come to India”, and I say: “You may”, then the voice spreads: “Mister Kumar 'wants' me to be in India”. That is how there is misunderstanding and misrepresenting. Someone shows me something and asks: “Do you like it?, I say: “Yes” and it is understood as: “Mister Kumar wants it”. Even in the most simplest things our communications are so bad.

Impression of the Sacred Word

Even a spoken word is not well listened to. In Sagittarius we have to listen to the unspoken word! That means, even before it comes out of the vocal cords, it shall have to be perceived or conceived. Everything is misinterpreted or misrepresented. We cannot say that we listen. There is a long preparation for listening, and unless the receiving instrument is prepared, listening is not possible. That is where Jupiter trains with sounds and rhythmic musical utterances, so that the channel is well cleaned to receive the impression.

Jupiter is the Lord of Sagittarius in all the three decanates. As he is having the ability to guide in all the three decanates, he does not have to delegate it to others. In the individual, personal, and Soul level it is Jupiter. In the Soul level Jupiter has the function to impress the Sacred Word. It is so sacred, that what is impressed is not expressed; that is why it is said that it cannot be expressed, as it is expressed in terms of action. That is how at the Soul level the functioning is with Jupiter.

At the personality level it is the preparation of the vehicle with the sacred sounds, so that the fire shoots up from the Base Centre to the Head Centre and beyond. At the individuality level it is personal aggrandisement; here man makes sure, that he has good food, good comfort, and good luxuries and that through acts of goodwill he gains good fame and good name. It is an individual who is totally working for himself in a good way. Jupiter influences all these three levels.

Sagittarius-Gemini

We have seen the Word as voice in Taurus. That is why it is said that the bull roars, and the Word as breath in Gemini, functioning through the vocal cords. Gemini is the polar opposite of Sagittarius. The functioning of Sagittarius-Gemini is considered as a good passage for the expression of the sacred Word, because in Sagittarius man has the ability to get impressed. In Gemini man carries the ability and the possibility to express. The expression is Gemini, and the ruler, the Lord, is Mercury. The impression is through the Guru or Jupiter, who has the ability to receive from the Higher Circles. The one who is under the influence of Sagittarius energy, if he is in team with the one who is in tune with Gemini energy, there is a complete team for invocation and evocation.

Thus, the Word as breath is what we see in Gemini. The passage of the Word is the passage, from Sagittarius to Gemini. The utterer is called the arrow, the Arian.

The Five-Fold Division of the Word

There is a Vedic understanding of the fivefold division of the Word, where there is the Guru as the beginning of the Word, the former part of the Word, called Jupiter, and there is the disciple, which is the later part of the Word, called Mercury. Then there is the sound which is uttered forth, and the repetitive uttering forth of the sound creates the passage. Then there is the utterer, the higher aspect of Aries, which shows that the totality of it is the expression, and the passage is conducted through sound, where the conductor is the fire represented by the horse.

The horse in Sagittarius is the life force - the fire of life. The centaur of Sagittarius depicts the frictional fire and the solar fire - frictional fire in the hind part and solar fire in the front part. The bow is the Sacred Word, and the Arrow is the Soul, ready to be released from its bondage into higher realms of existence.

The Double Path

The Teacher informs Hercules: “Let us tread another way”. This is a mystical utterance which indicates that there is a directional change in Sagittarius.

While speaking about Libra I have stated that from Sagittarius there is the Path of Return. The first 13 degrees of Sagittarius offer a twofold possibility, as there is a double path in the first 13 degrees. One is the path that retraces us to the Source, the other is the path that takes us down deep into the matter; that is into the thighs. As it is said, there is a way that we return from the Base Centre to the higher regions in the upward path, and then there is the other way, that takes us into the downward path. This path exists during the solar year in the first 13⁰ 20” degrees. It is the constellation called Mula, the English correspondence is given in the book “Time the Key”, which is in relation to the constellation Aquila. Aquila is the bird, the great bird which has a twofold direction. In the labour of Hercules we find the birds making noise, and its higher correspondence is there in other Scriptures.

The Noisy Birds

The birds Hercules met, to start with, were the birds that made hopeless noise. The labour given to Hercules was to clear these birds, as the cawing of these crows was so disturbing that the people who lived amidst them died quickly.

This is because of the indiscreet production of sounds (even in the name of music!). Besides speeches we have also created music that kills us. Music is expected to make us harmonious, but we really get disturbed when we listen to certain varieties of music. Likewise, if we continuously listen to sounds which have no purpose, our energies get dissipated. There is continuous use of sound to produce noise. That is the reason why we need to retire into silence for some time, only to save ourselves from being put to death.

There was a valley where there was too much of speaking, too much of useless utterance of sounds. If we live in such a place, we die. These birds, which were the noise making birds, were the ones to be put to death, and that labour was given to Hercules.

Silence

Maybe the Teacher found that the fellow was speaking too much and uselessly, even in the name of esoterism. The bla, bla in the name of esoteric things is much more, hence the Teacher must have put Hercules to that labour.

Every Teacher, at one point of time, is very emphatic about the disciple's use of sound. Before the disciple learns the right use of sound, the Teacher tells him to grow silent. Silence is better than speech at all times, especially when we do not know how to speak. Speaking out of thinking is different from speaking out of inspiration.

Generally we think and speak. Once we get a thought, unless we speak it out, we are at unrest. Just holding a thought causes so much unrest in us. Imagine how much unrest it creates when we express it out. It is a great service when a thought which causes unrest to us, is not put out and neutralized by some other thought within.

In the whole Creation there is only the human being which makes more noise. In the Orient it is said: “Even from the origin, the sky is silent. Even the Earth, that came out of it, is silent. Who is this fellow called man, that makes so much noise? He follows neither of “them”. The Earth is silent, the mineral and the plant, are silent, even the animals are relatively very silent compared to man, and so are the Devas.

Speech

We are given a faculty which has to be put to good use. In advanced states, death is the penalty for irresponsible speaking. Even when we speak, there is the need to choose words that are harmonious. Some people have the art of offending others through speeches, and as they open their mouth, the other man has to become defensive. It is attacking through mouth. That means, the weapon is in the mouth, but not in the hand, in this case. They are the ones who continuously create an unpleasant atmosphere around them, and people avoid them. When we are unpleasant in expression of words, however wise we may be, we are not required. What is required is to spread pleasant and harmonious atmosphere, but not spread conflict through words.

Some people, when they start speaking, they start with the word 'sorry'; they say: “Sorry, can I disturb you?” Whom are we to be sorry about? What is it that we have to feel sorry for? If it is so, why should it be expressed as the first thing? When we make an approach to a person and say: “Sorry, Kumar…”, why sorry? We have to choose a better word. The intention is good, but the expression of the word is absolutely incorrect. Someone approaches and says: “Can I disturb you? My answer to such people is: “You cannot. You may try, but you cannot”. Your idea is, you would like to speak to me, but I am otherwise engaged, and You would like to get into a conversation. Find better words. Is it your intention to disturb me? How are you so confident that you can disturb the other? Firstly, you have no intentions, secondly, you do not know whether you have the requisite capacity to disturb the other.

Why do we use words which we do not mean at all? If we observe out of our speech, there are many words like that and many more words which we do not mean at all. Suddenly, between two expressions we say 'well'. What do you mean? Have you got well suddenly in between?, or who has got well in the meanwhile? So much of 'bueno' we hear when I listen to Spanish. I am not criticising the language; in every language people are using words which they do not intend and they are using words which carry no purpose. The quality of speech in the present day is so inferior.

Now imagine our criticising others, our being critical about others in our speech, and our being boastful of our own self in speech. That is what is represented by the noise of the birds in the labour of Hercules. Please, do not kill a bird that chirps; kill the bird that makes noise in you through useless speeches, unintended speeches, and critical speeches. I don't have to elaborate on this. It is known to all of us. These are the words that kill our vitality. That is why it is said, they caused so much noise that there is the disappearance of life. So we necessarily have to put them to death.

The Suktas

That does not mean that from now onwards we don't speak. We shall have to learn to pick up sacred utterances to start with, so that a new habit is created. When there is a way to destroy through speech, there should also be a way to construct through speech. Everything has its twofold aspect. If speech can destroy, it can also construct. We should make a habit to get into those utterances in preference to these speeches.

Utterance as a word carries a meaning which is different from speech. The root sound UT in utterance means to 'move up'; it is Utchara in Sanskrit, utterance in English, and in Hindi ut means 'to stand up'.

Any speech that moves people up is an utterance. From this sound UT has come UKTA. If the utterance is far superior, it is called Sukta, in Sanskrit. A Sukta is one which gives us an effective way to move up. That means, it is a sound that moves us up, that puts us into the Upward Path. There are about 11600 Suktas in the Rig Veda, of which the Purusha Sukta is one. In the ancient times, there were compassionate ones who realized the importance of the sound, and for the benefit of the posterity, they came out with certain formulae of sound. The Vedas contain these Suktams.

Speak Truth Pleasantly

We don't have to do much. If only we care about the sound that we use, we almost gain 70% of the ground. We don't need so many concepts and laboriously working them out. One simple way is to function with Jupiter, and Jupiter functions with sound. The functioning of Jupiter with us can be a reality when we start working with the Word in its right way. Utterance is one of the seven keys to self-realization.

Sound is anyway there with us. How do we use it, is the question. There are sounds which can put us in the Upward Path, and that, at the same time, requires that we cease making noise. That is why it is said: “Speak Truth, and speak pleasantly”. If it is Truth and not pleasant, better hold on. If you can speak Truth pleasantly, speak; otherwise don't. Untruth may not be spoken. Speaking untruth unpleasantly is the other end. Speaking Truth unpleasantly is also a prohibition, if we wish to be in touch with a Teacher. Speaking Truth and speaking pleasantly is the double requirement. These are the real instructions for the disciples. Without this, even if we get into very great concepts, they only confuse us, and we carry them as a load on our being. They stand as information, but not as Truth with us. So we need to get into this, if we really wish to walk into the advanced step of meeting the Master. Please, make sure that every little sound that we make is harmonious and meaningful. We need not use sounds which cause disturbance.

Suppose, something is spread on the floor. To tell our sister who is attending to the altar: “It is very ugly and unclean, why don't you clean it?” is one way. The words 'ugly' and 'unclean' can be substituted by words like: “Can we make it more clean here?” This is suggestive, because we are only making a suggestion to start with. Secondly, we are speaking to make it more' clean. That means, 'clean' is the basis, upon which we are working. Negative words make man negative.

The Initiates have a beautiful way of speaking, where there is no negative word. In their language, 'no' does not exist. At best they remain silent if they have to say 'no'. The best utterer is one who does not make use of the negative words. That is how it is conceived in the Ashrams.

When we work with sound from the positive side, then the noises, which represent the negative aspect of sound, die down. There is no such thing as clearing the noisy sounds and introducing the harmonious sounds. In reality, they are not two acts. There is what is called avoiding the noise, and there is what is called uttering the Suktams or good sounds. When we are engaged in uttering good things, to that extent, there is no speaking of noise or making noise.

The Husk

There are some lentils, in which some pebbles or stones of similar size and similar colour are also mixed. There are two ways of seeing it, to remove the pebbles and secure the lentils and by securing the lentils the pebbles are removed automatically. That is how this mechanism is used to purify rice and other grains and cereals.

Even in respect of the grain, it is collected and the husk is left, making use of the wind. In the ancient times, they had a nice way of collecting the grain with the help of the wind. It is also a symbolic expression: “Collect the grain”. They did not say: “Leave the husk”. When we have collected the grain, the husk is left. So when we say: “Collect the grain and leave the husk”, the second part is unnecessary.

Even in speaking we can condense it to express that which we mean. That is how in the esoteric sense, speeches are considered as husk. That is why, if two, three, or four people are speaking for hours together, it is said: “They are husking”, because it has no substance in it.

Seed Sounds

Speeches have to be more meaningful, full of content and intent. Here we speak volumes, but in more advanced or evolved situations, they speak sentences. From volumes we have to come to a volume, from a volume to a passage, and from a passage to a sentence. That is the Third Initiation. From a sentence, they get into a word. Just a word is enough for the morning class and one word for the evening class, when a group living is conducted by evolved Beings of the Fourth Initiation. To speak a sentence is too much for them, and in further Initiations, only a letter is spoken!

That is how we have the seed sounds as single- syllabled utterances. If RA is uttered, the sound RA is known, and the work is conducted for about a cycle of time. RA is a seed sound which speaks volumes. It is easier to pass things in seeds than in their manifestation. It is easy to bring you seeds of a Banyan tree than to bring you a Banyan tree. How facilitating it is when we get into the seed thoughts. In more advanced situations, even the seed is not uttered, but it is transmitted just through looks.

Communication Through Silence

In the morning hours a disciple meets the Master and looks at him. The Master also looks at the disciple, and the disciple gets into work. But the Master also. The Master is not one who sleeps in the room. He has his work, which others don't know; that means, the disciple does not know.

The Master looks at the disciple, then the disciple gets into work, and the Master also gets into his work. The communication is through silence, because in silence it can be better communicated. It can be communicated as IT IS. We use the words in a very superficial way, but the same word has its own deep understanding AS IT IS. When there is no speech, IT IS. When we make speech, it is causing a ripple on THAT which IS. This ripple is not AS IT IS. The moment we speak, the ripple is there. In a lake, from centre to circumference, there is the stillness as IT IS. The moment there is the vibration of the sound, the state of AS IT IS, is not there. IS transforms as becoming. IT IS, and IT IS becoming. The more the sound is, the more is the becoming aspect. The more the silence is, the IS aspect is predominant.

Communication is almost complete in silence, and it is not so in sound. It is cutting across, and the sound distorts that which IS. That is why it is said, the communication is in silence. This is what is called “speaking silence”; it is “speaking silence without breaking IT”. In the evening invocation we say: “May we speak the silence without breaking IT”. That is what is intended by this little sentence. It can be taken as silence, it can be taken as THAT.

That is the sublime state of sound, which is expected to be realized through sacred utterances. That is why in the past, in the wisdom schools, an entrant was made to utter for about five years. For five years it was just uttering Suktas, and only thereafter he was given the other keys. Because when we utter, we clear the channel to enable better listening. The key of utterance is called “Siksha”, and it is basically given so that the instrument is able to listen clearly; after that, the other keys of wisdom .are given. If the other keys of wisdom are given without this key, the wisdom is ill-received, and the Teacher speaks one thing, the disciple listens another thing.

This was the process suggested in the labour of Hercules, to get rid of the cawing birds through a mechanism of sound which he picked up. The two instruments he used were the vocal cords, where, when good utterances were made, there was a pull-up of .the energy. That is how Hercules made the birds run away. The birds were frightened of the sounds produced by Hercules by the two instruments; hence they made haste to run away.

Jupiter & Mercury

When there is continuous and regular utterance of sacred sounds, it enables the pull-up of the being from the well. There is the constellation Mula in Sagittarius. The first 13 degrees of Sagittarius are called MULA, which means 'the corner' in Sanskrit. The being is cornered there, and the way to pull him up is through sound, which is an aspect of Jupiter.

The positive aspect of sound is Jupiter, called Brihaspati. In the invocation to the Masters we say: “Sam na Indro Brihaspatihi” This year 1994 is a year of Brihaspati from the ritualistic angle, whose higher counterpart is called Brahmanaspati. These are the sublime states of the Word. The positive Word, the positive side, is Brihaspati, and the speech side, which is called the negative side, is Saraswathi. If we put it into astrological terms, the positive side is Jupiter, the negative side is Mercury. Mercury without an aspect with Jupiter is a source of nuisance. Mercury can be diplomatic, intelligent, clever, skilful, manipulative, creating dispute, misinterpreting, overcritical, judging; it has so many qualities of its own, if it is not well aspected with Jupiter. That is where Jupiter helps the impression which can be passed on through Mercury as expression.

Great Birds

Hercules has conducted this process in him through sound. Birds are described in astrology as well as in astronomy with their respective sacred counterpart. In astrology we find in the constellation of Sagittarius, the Aquila. Aquila is the bird that soars high into the sky. It is described in Ramayana, where its name is Sampathi. It is the bird that conducts its plan according to the Law, and after the plan is completed, it directly soars up to the sun and bums itself. Getting up to the sun and burning itself means, getting absorbed into the Soul energy. There is also an eagle in the Veda, in a Sukta relating to the good-winged bird, called Suparna or Garuda. Parna means 'wing', and Suparna means 'good-winged' in Sanskrit. It is the good-winged bird that can soar high. This is what we find in Sagittarius.

There are many, many rituals relating to Sagittarius too. There is also a tradition of describing the Sagittarian as a horse with its triple fire. The tail is taken as the fire by friction, the body is taken as the solar fire, and the head is taken as the electric fire. There are stories in the Upanishads and in the Mahabharata, where the disciples are asked to blow through the tail of the horse to shoot through its head!

Repaying the Debt to the Teacher

Before the student leaves the Ashram, there is an age old custom, that in gratitude of the learning the student would like to repay his debt to the Teacher, which enables the student to receive compassion for life from him. The student thereafter walks into life with wisdom, conducting himself, continuing to receive the compassion and Love from the Teacher. For the anterior and posterior period the student thus would like to repay the debt in some form to the Teacher.

Every disciple necessarily approaches the Teacher and asks, how he could repay the debt by saying: “Oh my Teacher, the venerable one, I know that you have no desires. Only for the sake of delivering me and protecting me, make a wish which I would like to fulfil”. The Teacher smiles and never answers, because he has no desire, but the student pursues. When the student is insisting, the Teacher will say: “Go and ask the lady in the house, who gave you food during all these years”.

In most of these stories the disciple is driven towards the lady to ask for the wish. That means, the lady part of the Teacher is the outer embodiment of the lady. One should be prepared to give that which is wished by the lady. She may ask for the sky, she may ask for the moon, and you have to get it! That is how it is. It happened in every disciple's case, if we look into the Scriptures.

How Krishna paid his Debt to his Teacher

When Krishna completed his study under the Teacher Sandipani, he also asked him if he could repay by way of some gift as a matter of gratitude. The Teacher knew who Krishna was, so he smiled and said: “You can give anything and everything, but have no need to ask you anything. It is part of the drama that you have become my student. That itself is a gift. I know what you are and that you have been my student, itself is the greatest gift that I can ever expect”. Krishna said: “This is not the way to repay the debt. Since I follow the path that is followed by the ones who preceded me, I also have to fulfil a wish”. But Krishna was told by his Teacher: “I am sorry, I don't need any gifts from you. You are a gift to me”. Then Krishna insisted, because he believed in treading a path that had been followed by others in the preceding cycles who were ahead of him. He always said: “I do all this, because later people follow me. I don't have to do these things, but in my name others also will stop doing it. I therefore need to uphold the good traditions”.

Suppose there is one who has realized the purpose of meditation and lives in that state during the day. He need not necessarily meditate at 6 in the morning and 6 in the evening, yet he continues to do it, because others would also stop, if he stops. Having walked into greater measure of Light, there is such a responsibility, and Krishna?, demonstrated it in his life. He saluted the elders, he touched their feet, and he bowed down to every wise man on the planet, just to show an example!

To his Teacher he said: “I must fulfil a wish and you should let me know”. Then the Teacher drove him to the lady. The lady was happy and said: “I know you can fulfil my wish and what I ask is extra-terrestrial. Is that alright?' She was respectful to the disciple, because she knew his stature. Krishna said: “You can ask anything in this Universe, I shall get it for you”. The Teacher and the lady had given birth to eight children and all of them had died. The lady said: “I would like to see all the eight”, and Krishna said: “Done”. He got them to the lady's satisfaction.

The Symbolism of the Earrings

Like this, the story in Sagittarius goes. The disciple asked the Teacher, and the Teacher directed the disciple to the lady. The lady said: “I would like to have the earrings of the queen of the celestials”. The disciple said 'yes' and moved. He was full of awareness on account of the learning he had with the Teacher. As he was moving towards the earrings, a person met him and said: “Are you looking for the earrings?” He said: “Yes”, the stranger said: “I know where the rings are. Follow me”.

The disciple followed him and fell into a loop-hole of awareness. He reached the nether worlds, where he saw a lady roped in white and another lady roped in darkness or black. He found that they were churning wheel, and there were six spokes to the wheel in black and white. He also saw six Kumaras working on the pairs of the spokes. He gradually realized them in him. The six Kumaras were representing the six centres of the body. The six spokes in black and white were the six pairs of the zodiacal signs. Then he got up to the sixth centre, the Ajna, where he was able to catch the earrings. Earrings are the symbols of the ability to listen well.

In India, when the child is in the third year, it gets two golden earrings, be it male or female. The idea is that it should develop the faculty of listening for the years to come. Unless it listens well, it cannot be a good student. That is why the two ears are pierced even in the third year. This is all arising out of the understanding of the occult side of the human body. The buds of the ear carry the nerve centres relating to listening, and when they are stimulated through the touch of the gold, then the ability to listen is improved.

There is an occult statement which says: “Listen through the left ear and see through the right eye”. The right eye is called Sudarshana or “good vision” in Sanskrit. Lord Vishnu is symbolically represented holding in the right hand a weapon called Sudarshana. That means, through the right eye we have good vision and through the left ear we have the ability to listen to that which is unuttered or the Anahata Sound. That is why we see people at least piercing the left ear, though not the two ears.

The Symbolism of the Horse or Ashwa

When the disciple fetched these earrings while he was in the nether regions, the disciple found a clue. That clue was given to him by his own mind, which said: “Blow through the tail of the horse”. The disciple blew through the tail and reached the Teacher's home to hand over the earrings! The “blowing through” is another expression of “shooting through”. The disciple takes to the aid of the Sacred Sound and utters forth to reach the goal. This is how the stories are given symbolically in the Upanishads and in the Mahabharata. Similar is the symbolism we find in the labours of Hercules.

The tail represents Sagittarius, the body represents Leo, and the head represents Aries as far as the horse symbolism is concerned in the Veda. The moment we start in “Mula” or the Base Centre of the vertebral column, via the heart centre we reach the Ajna Centre. It is through the path of retracing, which was explained when we spoke of Libra.

The head of the horse is called HAYA. It can be said YAHA or HAYA has its alternating sound as JA. Sometimes YA is used, sometimes JA is used in the Scriptures. So it can be JAHA or YAHA, and it can be HAYA or HAJA. YA is the Sahasrara Centre, HA is the Centre above Ajna. These two centres put together are called the head of the horse, which symbolically is called “Hayagriva”. That means, this is the path which contains the total secrets of the universe and beyond; hence there is a tradition of meditating upon the Horse-headed Lord. It forms part of this sun sign.

Hayagriva or the Horseheaded Lord is said to be the Lord of Wisdom who bestows on us the entire tree of wisdom with all its branches. Now, only the horsehead as a symbol remained, and the path disappeared through tradition. There is only an exoteric worship of the horsehead, but the occult aspect relating to it is hidden in the spiritual side of astrology.

There is a way to worship this Lord to realize the wisdom. This energy of HAYA is said to be seated in a tree called “Ashwatha”. The aspect of the horse seems to be exhaustively covered in various parts of the Vedic wisdom. HAYA is also called ASHWA; that is the horse. ASHWA in Sanskrit means: 'that which permeates without displacement'; that is, if I started in Bombay and came up to Engelberg, I am not in Bombay, I am in Engelberg now if I have the Ashwa Consciousness, I permeate from Bombay to Engelberg. I am there in Bombay, I am there all through, and I am also there in Engelberg. That is a state of Awareness where such permeation is possible. It is called ASHWA and its exoteric meaning is 'horse'.

There is a worship in the Rig Veda asking for the horse. In the Rig Veda the rhythmic musical utterances is seeking from the Lord of Fire horses, cows, elephants, and such other things. Those who saw the exoteric side said: “Those primitive Indians, they were agriculture-based, hence they were asking horses, cows etc.” but the profound wisdom can be known only when the symbolism is known. The horse stands for the Permeating Consciousness, the cow stands for Mother Earth, and the elephant stands for wisdom.

This ASHWA, or the permeating energy, is seated in a tree which is recognised by the ancient seers. The aspect of seating is called STA, meaning “to be here, anchored” the word stone came out of it. STA means wherever it is kept, it is there and manifest. Ashwata is the tree, under which Buddha is said to have realized his Highest Initiation. That is the tree which is described in the 15^th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita by Lord Krishna. It is the tree that gives the permeation. There are rituals conducted in the month of Sagittarius where people eat the leaves or the fruits of that tree and live on water throughout the month of Sagittarius, meditating upon the symbol of the horsehead to realize the wisdom or the SELF.

The seekers also form into triangles invoking fire in the centre, or 18 of them form into a triangle, keeping the Teacher as the centre, they make rhythmic musical utterances of the Sacred Sounds throughout the month of Sagittarius.

There are varieties of ways of making use of the sublime energies given to us through Sagittarius. The ascending 11th moon phase in the month of Sagittarius is said to be “the Day of Narayana” in the solar year. If we go through the rituals of Sagittarius on that day, we have the opportunity to realize the Cosmic Person. So many are the mysteries of Sagittarius. I have only put forward to you one thousandth of it. To say it in short, Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita: “Among the zodiacal signs I AM Sagittarius. Among the moon phases I AM the 11th moon phase”. Thus, we can see the importance of the 11th moon phase in Sagittarius. Generally the 11th moon phase is important for the realization of the Second Ray Energies. Much more so the ascending moon phase in relation to the descending moon phase and much more so, when it is in Sagittarius. The Sagittarian energy gives us a direct link to the Cosmic Consciousness if properly utilised. The key is functioning with Jupiter, meaning, functioning with sound.

The Sanskrit word for Jupiter and Teacher is the same, it is Guru. This word is also now put to abuse. If we suspect someone as diabolic in the spiritual field, we call him: “Oh, he is a Guru”, but the sublime word is put to abuse due to our own activities. The Teacher is the First, Second, and Third Logos put together and their Background, that is what we invoke as: “Guru Brahma, Gurur Vishnuhu, Gurur Devo Maheshwaraha, Gurur Sakshat Parambrahma. Through the Teacher we realize the First, Second, and Third Logos and also the Background of all which is called Existence. That is why the Sloka says: “The Pure Existence and its triple activity through the three Logoi visits me through my Teacher, and I offer my salutations to him.' There is a fourfold aspect of the Teacher called Guru, and he gives the synthesis.

The Teacher-taught relationship is best understood in Sagittarius. That is why it is said, the anterior part of .the Word is the Teacher, the posterior part of the Word is the student, and the teaching is the bridge between the two. The Word is the bridge, the teaching is the process, which is said in the Upanishads: “Acharya poorva rupam, anteva syutara, vidya sandhi, pravachanagum sanshanum, ityati vidyam”. That is how it is. It is very well said. When it is said, it is said in three tones. If we continuously do this kind of rhythmic musical utterances for hours, our body will be naturally transmuted. The inevitability of landing into sounds is there for the disciple, as it is from form to colour, colour to sound, and sound to silence, which is the Pure Existence. That is how we have .the work of the Word happening.

To Utter and Listen

The ancient seers have found many varieties of sounds which are sacred, just for the variety, so that we remain fresh while in practice, but it is enough, if we utter the Sacred Word OM, it conducts all that which is said today. I said in the very beginning of our group living, that when we utter OM, we should give a pause to listen to it, and we shouldn't be preoccupied only to utter. Each utterance from our side is to listen to THAT which is there as OM. The gap between two OM is the situation where OM can be heard without being uttered, it is the response from the other side. We call the nameless ONE with OM, and HE responds to us with the silent OM. When it is collectively done, the effect is more. When we all collectively utter OM, we build such a cone into the Space here which, projects and that projection enables the descent of energy into us.

No call is left unresponded. We call, but we don't look to HIS response. That is not a good proposition. We do not allow HIM to respond after having called HIM. We have to invoke and then listen, utter and listen. The more we listen, the more the first step gets dropped, that is, there is only listening and no uttering. Uttering is like switching on. How long do we switch on? Till the Light descends. But here is the spontaneous response and as we switch on, the Light is on. When the Light is on, what are we to do with the Light, is the next step, but not switching on again and again. If we call and do not seek the next step, HE will say: “This man only calls; it seems he has no other work”.

We utter OM and listen to it. When we start listening to OM, we don't utter. After uttering OM, our mind always gets into the next step, but what is the next to be uttered? It is the preliminary state. When there is the process of hearing taking place through cleansing of the system, the immense urge to listen develops. The channel between the Base Centre and the Throat Centre shall have to be made pure and clean, then only the listening part starts. When we start listening, we lose the taste for all kinds of speeches, and then we are able to listen to the ONE.

We are able to listen to the message from the ONE, and that message is the Plan. There are people who listen the Plan, and there are people who see the Plan, and both of them do not speak of it. They do their work and silently get away. That is the opportunity we have through sound, and that is the work of Jupiter.

Fire Ritual

There are another seven important rituals in Sagittarius. A ritual does not mean that we secretively conduct it in some place, making some designs. The place for the sacred ritual is the body. We make the body clean and start working with certain practices, then it is called ritual. The fire ritual which is conducted outside is to invoke the fire inside. Interiorly we can invoke fire and do a fire ritual. All the rituals of Sagittarius have to do with fire, it is the fire that puts us beyond the mind, as mind is also fire. When we are disturbed by thoughts, it means the fire of the thought is disturbing us and causing headache.

The statement in the labour of Hercules is: “The flame of the fire that gleams beyond the mind, reveals the sure direction sure”. So, we put ourselves to this fire. This fire purifies our mind and makes us see beyond, otherwise we see according to the mind which is the concrete aspect of our habits. We see according to our habits, and we do not see that which is. This distortion is burnt up through the fiery process of Sagittarius. The son of man is the mind, the fifth principle, in so far as it is in continuous association with fire, it remains pure. A pure mind is able to reflect that which is high.

Sagittarius is a very profound sun sign and is linked to sound. It is a house of Initiation. Initiation is a sure prophecy in Sagittarius. So, put Sagittarius to good use.

The Three Fold Bondage

The tenth labour of Hercules relates to Capricorn. It once again brings us to Prometheus, about whom we had a very elaborate understanding. Prometheus was chained and was being put to trouble by virtue of his being chained on either side. The labour is to release him from the state of conditioning. The Teacher asked Hercules to make sure that Prometheus was saved.

In Gemini we have considered the duality aspect binding Prometheus. In Capricorn it is spoken of his threefold conditioning in the lower three bodies. Hercules was told that unless he overpowers the dog with the three heads which is conditioning Prometheus, there will be no way for Prometheus to get released.

Prometheus here represents the son of man, the heavenly man, bound to matter, which is a representation of humanity. That means, the son of God who is also the son of man, is caught up in the three lower bodies. The task given to Hercules was to cut off the heads of the dog which was very vicious. Hercules was to function to redeem humanity from its slavery of the threefold bondage.

The Dawn of the Year

The conditioning of the three lower bodies is very familiar to us in everyone of these labours. These three are specifically mentioned in the labours of Capricorn, only to remind us of the Makara aspect. Makara, the Sanskrit name for Capricorn, is symbolic for a crocodile or a five-pointed star or a white dragon. Capricorn is the dawn of the year, where there is the release of the spirit from matter.

Every dawn is the effulgence of Light from the seeming darkness. There is the emergence of the sun, and its happening in Capricorn is an astrological way of expressing it. Capricorn represents the third earthy sign in 'the zodiacal signs, meaning the spiritual matter, the subtle matter, the matter through which Light can permeate without getting arrested. In the gross matter the possibility for permeation is little. The subtler the matter is, the greater is the possibility for the spirit to shine through. Capricorn is the third earthy sign and is the spiritual aspect of the three earthy signs.

We have seen Taurus as the form aspect of Nature, Virgo as its beauty aspect, and in Capricorn we find the Light aspect of the matter. In Capricorn the matter is made very subtle through a fiery process which we have considered in Sagittarius, when there is the blow-up through the tail of the threefold horse. The horse also represents the three fiery signs: the tail representing Sagittarius, the body representing Leo, and the head representing Aries. When once the fiery process is conducted, there is the subtle matter emerging which enables the permeation of Light. This permeation of Light is what is called the dawn that is enacted annually in Capricorn.

The Three-headed Dog

In Capricorn we speak of the dragon with the five aspects. This dragon exists in three planes, the fourth one being the dragon with Light, and is referred to as the five-pointed star, which permeates the Light. The other three fivepointed stars are inferior to it, and referred to as the three heads of the dog.

In the Vedic symbolism the three heads of the dog are described as the three Makaras, the three crocodiles which grip the being. When we are gripped, we are conditioned, this grip is threefold. That is what is represented by the three heads of the dog.

Man is a double being. He is the meeting point of the centripetal and the centrifugal forces. In him, two principles approaching from two different paths, meet and co-exist. The spirit, which is absolutely impersonal, that which is within and beyond as Existence. It emerges as Soul and as the Light of the Soul from the spiritual triad. They are respectively called: Paramatma, Atma, Buddhi. These three live as principles and get embodied in Creation, as the patterns of Creation are recollected in them in due course of time.

Another set of principles emerge from the same Source, deviating into opposite direction to create the forms for the 1st set of beings thus completing the circle. In one direction the beings are prepared, in the other direction the bodies are proffered for the beings. The being is threefold, (Spirit, Soul and Light of the Soul} and the body is threefold, (mind, senses and body). The former is the indweller, and the latter is the dwelling house. The composite unit in its optimum state is man. When this man knows not how to live in the threefold body, he suffers pain. Prometheus is a representation of that. Beheading the three heads of the dog is regaining the knowledge to live in the threefold body with freedom.

The Three Makaras

There is a pentagon of limbs or organs of action, a pentagon of sense organs, and a pentagon of senses, which are worked out by the pentagon of the elements. There are five organs of action: the hands, the legs, the mouth, and the two excretory organs as the physical pentagon. Then there are the sense organs: the ears, the eyes, the nose, the tongue, and the skin as another pentagon. Then we have the five senses of hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and touching.

These pentagons are called “Makaras”, MA is the sound which has its numerical potency as five. KARA means hands. The one with five hands is called Makara. It is symbolically presented as a crocodile or a dragon. The grip of these three dragons is the grip over the physical, the emotional, and the mental aspects of the human being. These three have a grip over the Light which we are, and that Light is represented as the vertical column. The other name for that vertical column is “Pra Mantha”, whose Greek version is Prometheus.

The son of man, who is in the vertical column or Brahma Randra is gripped up to the physical on account of these three Makaras. The gripping is in the Solar Plexus, in the Sacral, and in the Base Centres. There is a way to voluntarily live in these planes of Existence, and there is also a way to get conditioned by these planes of Existence. Anything voluntary is joyful. Through the laws of involution, and through time we get conditioned in the mino, senses, and the body. If we are able to function through the mind, senses, and the body and do not get conditioned by it, then the human body is realised as a vehicle to function through. But when we are stuck in it and have become part of it, then comes the conflict, the pain, the suffering, which is reflected by the vultures eating the intestines and the liver of Prometheus.

All our problems arise out of the disturbance in the Solar Plexus, Sacral Centre, and Base Centre. This is because, as we get into the vehicle called the human body, we forget that we have come to function through it, and we get identified with it. Consequently there is the grip of the objectivity. We develop our own concepts of living, which in turn develop a memory in us. Mostly all our life is memory based and that memory is relating to the memory of the objectivity.

The original descent is forgotten and we are caught in these three aspects of the body which in the Orient are represented by three crocodiles. The grip of the crocodile is considered to be the strongest, as it has grip even in waters. To have grip in waters is not easy. The crocodile has a strong hold in waters.

As much as the crocodile holds the grip, so much is our grip over the sense objects, over the form, over the memory of the experience relating to the senses, and upon the opinions and concepts we hold. These are the grips that make us bound to the body. Instead of the human vehicle being an expression for the Soul, it becomes a prison house.

This prison house is what is referred to as the threefold prison house of the mental concepts, the attachment to the sense experience, and the attachment to the objects which are the replica of the form aspect. There is the attachment to properties, to personal effects, and to personal forms, which is the greatest grip that man suffers from. It is called the Makara of the brown colour, which is the attachment to earthy things.

Then there is the memory of the sense experience, which keeps putting us on to the same programme again and again without giving us contentment or fulfilment. The eye, the ear, the tongue, the skin, and the nose, they create a memory programme in us and always pull us towards it, creating a craving for them. See, how our tongue craves for a delicious dish arising out of memory. So is the case with the sense of touch. Touch and taste are the two senses, that bind us to the objectivity very heavily. So also the sight, the hearing, and the smell. While they create a craving in us, they give only a momentary happiness, that is their limitation. That is why man is never satisfied by satiating the senses. He is satisfied for the moment and in the next moment he is in hunger for something else. If some sense object is considered as a source of happiness, the moment we get it, we should become happy and get contented. If we are contented, there is no such thing as another desire sprouting from it. So it only deceives and makes us believe, that it is giving happiness, but it is again putting us in desire arising out of the strong memory we hold through these five senses. It is a great grip, called the grip in waters.

Our grip on earth is questionable, as a big wind can carry us away. Imagine the grip in waters, we are swept away by the current of the waters, called the emotional waters of the senses. This Makara is said to be of grey colour, the emotional/astral state.

Then there are the concepts and opinions we hold, our own understanding of life, our so called values of life. We have certain fixed views about things in life. We also have fixed views about every “ology”, including theology. The fixation is the source of conditioning. This is the Makara of Mind which has the polluted orange or reddish brown colour.

These are the three dragons or Makaras. The first is of brown colour, the second is of grey colour, and the third is of reddish brown colour.

Man-Sacrifice

“Fidelity” is the message as well as the key-note of Capricorn. In the act of fidelity for the fellow - beings, the man turns into the Master. Until such time the Word remains concealed in the Heart Lotus and is locked as a secret. To deliver oneself from the bondage, one needs to deliver the race and that is the task of the Saviour in Capricorn. Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Jesus did so. The Word in Capricorn is not uttered forth as Sound, but as self-expression of the act of Fidelity. It is uttered forth through the activity of the Star

(Fig.5)

i.e., through the activity of the five senses.

The disciple in Capricorn is ready to “come down” to death to redeem his fellow beings! He is willing to suffer and bear the pain. He gives up the aim of living for himself and takes up the mission of offering himself to the fellow beings.

“Man-Sacrifice”(self-sacrifice) is the ritual to gain the “White Robe” in Capricorn. It demands the sacrifice of the “Self” for the noble cause. People sacrifice money, time, energy, but not their intellect and concepts. The ritual demands a total sacrifice or “Sarva Huta”, says the Veda. Such is the labour entrusted In Capricorn for the redemption of the race, and Hercules did it!

When we overcome these three five-pointed stars, these crocodiles or Makaras, we land up in a Makara or a fivepointed star which is full of Light. This star of Light is what is referred to as “the Glorious White Robe”, which in recent years is also called as “Antahkarana Sarira”, or the Body of Light. During Christmas there is the display of this star, which is expected to be of white colour. It means that there is the birth of the Saviour in one's own being, after having overcome the three Makaras, or having chopped off the three heads of the dog in the nether regions. The chopping off is only symbolical, because as I said before, Greeks believed more in the words killing, chopping off etc. It only means overcoming the limitation relating to it. If we kill the physical, the emotional, and the mental bodies, there is no way for us to express ourselves.

Nature’s Teachings

Nothing in Creation need to be killed, but there is the need to make an understanding of its fitness. When there is the know-how relating to the fitness of things in Creation, there is no need to eliminate anything. We will know how to interact with it and derive the best out of it. It is said that in Creation there is no waste. It is lack of knowledge, that makes us find waste. Nature's resources are not wasteful, but they ,are wasted on account of our lack of knowledge. “There is no waste thing in Creation, but a wasted thing” - so goes the saying.

The doctrine that the mind, the senses, and the body are the enemies, arises out of half-knowledge. When we are given the most sophisticated vehicle to function through and we do not know how to function with it, naturally we seem to get burdened with it. But the moment we know its fitness, the same burden transforms itself into a facility.

Normally that which we see as a burden, is nothing but our lack of understanding relating to it. If there is a person around us who seems to be a problem and there is no way, that we can avoid him or her, the higher understanding is, that Nature intends to teach us something through that source. We should have the openness to see what is to be learnt from that person through that situation. This is mostly not possible, because we have fixed views. To round up this fixation and make us adaptable, Nature has given us a 'living together' as a concept. As we interact with people in a group, the angularities are rubbed one against the other, and there is the gradual rounding up.

Even man and woman who are living together they may have set their own objects for such a living, but Nature has other designs for them. The lady is represented by the Venusian energy, and the man is represented by the Martian energy. Through the interaction between the two, the Venusian influence on Mars makes Mars softer. The Mars interaction with Venus makes Venus powerful. That is how woman gains gradually power and man becomes softer when they live together.

They learn to live one for the other which is a big lesson in life, to look for others' comforts, to do things that please others, that keep others in comfort. When they live together, they give birth to children and both of them start living for them. We may have some likes and dislikes, but we sacrifice them for the sake of our children which we otherwise wouldn’t. This is how Nature teaches adaptability and clears the fixation of the viewpoints relating to likes and dislikes.

When we make a group-living like this, with people having varied temperaments and personalities, one is a challenge to the other besides being complementary. The angularities are softened the more we get into interaction. This is how Nature teaches through interaction and as it happens, the fitness is better understood.

There are people who feel the family life as a burden, but there are also people who feel the family life as everything. It is only a question of our ability to handle a particular situation. For the one who does not know how to drive a car, if a Mercedes Benz is presented, it is a burden. It is no more a burden., once we know driving, on the contrary, It becomes a facility.

The Capricornian energies will give us the White Robe, make our vehicle light and enable us to experience the splendour of Creation, provided we release ourselves from the conditioning of the mental, emotional, and the physical layers. They are represented by the three Makaras in the Vedic symbolism and by the three-headed dog in the Greek symbolism.

The Dawn in Capricorn

Even the Vedas failed to describe the mysteries of the dawn in Capricorn. There is a many sided splendour of the dawn which can be experienced better than expressed.

For want of time I limit the discourse on Capricorn only to the labour of Hercules. For those who wish to know more about Capricorn, there is almost an 18 days seminar given, where every possible aspect of the five - pointed star is described.

When the fitness of Makara is gained, the one who is a conditioned being, transforms himself into a Kumara. Kumara means the son of God. Makara is a symbol in which the sound of Kumara is also included! MA stands for moon, KA stands for Saturn, and RA stands for Mars. Moon, Saturn and Mars is the triangle that conditions the beings. One has to look into his own horoscope to see as to how these three planets are placed, what aspects they are making with the houses, the planets, and the ascendant as well. That gives a clue to the status of the conditioning. For those who wish to work with Makara and overcome the self-conditioning, Saturn is the ruler, the patient working with oneself for continuous progress, is the keynote of Saturn. When this is complete, Saturn hands us over to Uranus where there is the speedy permeation as Consciousness, and in the state of advanced Initiations Uranus hands us over to the energies of Neptune. Saturn, Uranus and Neptune successively associate with the being as he progresses in Light. The work of Uranus and Neptune in Capricorn is too profound. We shall conclude here, otherwise, if we land in Uranus in relation to Capricorn, we get out of proportion for the time frame we have.

The dawn in Capricorn is a reality for the one who has worked out the labours in Scorpio and Sagittarius. Each time there is the release from the matter, the son of man transforms into a son of God. Every story relating to a son of man transforming into a son of God is said to be the story of the Saviour. With the beginning of the Winter Solstice, there is the increase of Light in the northern hemisphere, hence it is called the dawn of the year. Thereafter one experiences Light for the rest of the cycle.

Selfless Service

In the eleventh labour, Hercules is asked to clean the stench of the stables of king Augias. In Capricorn he realized himself as the son of God.

The first decanate of Capricorn is ruled by Saturn. The second decanate of Capricorn is equivalent to the energy of the sun sign Aquarius. There, the son of God, having realized himself as the Soul, was asked to serve the society and bring Light into the areas of darkness which is an aspect of selfless service. Neptune is the ruler of the third decanate in Capricorn, and has the characteristic of the spiritual energies of Pisces, the twelfth sunsign. Through selfless service the Soul gains the Universal Consciousness. Thus, in the tenth house of the zodiac, the eleventh and twelfth houses are included.

The one who serves the society in a selfless manner permeates himself into the air. Thereby he establishes himself in the ether around the Earth and becomes a channel for the energy when invoked through his name. That means, the work of the eleventh and the twelfth sunsigns is imbedded in the Capricornian sunsign.

Spiritual Perception

What Neptune does in Pisces is the same as he does when he is in the third decanate of Capricorn. That means, the seeds relating to the future manifestation are laid, while Neptune is in the third decanate of Capricorn. Likewise, when Uranus is in the second decanate of Capricorn, the seeds relating to the Aquarian work, when Uranus is in Aquarius, are planted.

We are now in a situation where Uranus and Neptune are in Capricorn and already in the third decanate. That means, the seeds relating to the seven years' cycle, which we will meet when Uranus transits into Aquarius, are already planted in the past four to five years. That is how we see the seed aspect of the tree which will be realized, when Uranus transits into Aquarius. With Neptune in the third decanate the seeds relating to the Neptunian work in Pisces are now being planted. Already there is the sensing of what it can be in the cycle to come up to the end of the first two decades of the next century.

Where there is an unveiled spiritual perception, there is already the sensing of the work of Uranus in Aquarius, and the work of Neptune in Pisces. That means, how it could be in the next 30 to 33 years can be reasonably perceived now. As we perceive, we will have the right tuning up to meet the situation. When we perceive in time, we are not taken by surprise. If we do not, then it seems that things are happening as accidents. In the occult understanding there is no such thing as accident; all is considered as an incident arising out of the preparation.

Pollution

In the eleventh labour of Hercules, there is a process of cleansing the Earth. The Teacher asked Hercules to clear the stench of the stables from the bad smell. The excretes in the stables had never been cleared for ages! The stench was carrying a poisonous smell which was causing pollution in the air, and this contamination had become poisonous. The stables of the king were stinking with poisonous smell, that it was impossible even to get into the stable and clean them. Thus, people got reconciled to it and started living in it as the living dead. There were massive events of death arising out of the pollution.

I don't think, we are very far from this situation today. The present living conditions are not very far from that of the kingdom of Augias. We pollute the air and the water. We pollute the earth with chemicals and fertilisers. We polluted food, we polluted the cow and its milk. We manipulate the tree, the plant, the crop and the animals so that they yield more. Of late we are also manipulating the genes! We disturb the ecological, natural system, to snit our purposes. We emanate poisonous gases into the air through our factories. We try to break every natural law to see how it is! We the humans carry innumerable diseases and deadly poisonous medicines. I think we are doing worse than what the citizens of Augias' Kingdom did. This was the situation of the stables of the king Augias.

It was somewhat similar to what we are into now, demanding a kind of cleansing. This cleansing is a superhuman effort. If the humans think that they can do it, it is only making an overestimation of their capacities. That is why there is the expectation of the superhuman intervention, but always the superhuman functions through a human, hence the necessity for the humans to be channels for the superhuman activity.

That is where the Hierarchy has started preparing the channels since 100 years who are termed as the “new group of world servers”. These new group of world servers are not known by that title in the world. Often those who consider themselves as the new group of world servers are not so, for, mostly they talk much and do little. Please do not mistake me for these harsh words. But it is so. We carry lots of good intentions, but what we turn out is not significant. Self-forgetfulness in service is what is demanded of the groups. Few are ready for such tasks.

Those who are forgetful about themselves are the only ones who can be channels, and there is a preparation on the planet since 100 years. There are world servers through whom the Plan gets implemented and at best, we can witness it. It is considered to be a superhuman effort, because the cause and effect have brought us to such a hopeless situation that no solution can be perceived through the mind. The limited thoughts that the mind entertains through its intellect cannot answer the situation, but those who have a clean life, an open mind, and a pure heart carry the necessary spiritual perception.

Spiritual perception is the other name for intuition. Those who are able to function with intuition, are functioning in groups at the planetary level, and they will bring in the necessary solution to the poisonous pollution we have now. The story of Hercules also reflects the same situation. These stories are eternal, because periodically we land into similar situations.

Permeating Consciousness

Hercules met king Augias and proposed to clean the stables. The king said: “It cannot be done. It is too much to do. It has grown to such proportions, that we cannot do anything about it. We have therefore decided to live with it and in it”. It is true at the individual, social, and also at the group level and even at the national level. Out of helplessness people reconcile to the undesirable scenario.

We know in what explosive situation we live in. The nuclear weapons are all set around the Globe, and some more are in the making. There is a secretive race for further, sophisticated inventions and accumulations. There are secret transfers of technologies. What is talked on platforms is for public consumption. People want peace allover the Globe, but they are surrounded by deadly weapons. They are subservient to the deadly ways of living. It is no man's task to redeem.

That is what the king explained to Hercules: “There is no way to come out of it”. Hercules replayed: “I have come to do it for you”. The king said: “Why do you boast upon yourself, that you can do it? When collectively we cannot do it, how can you do it singly?” Hercules said: “Leave it to me. I will do it”. The king suspected that this man was trying to do some good work in society ; to gain popularity.

Suspicion is very common when we are stuck in emotions and fear is the next step. The king also got the fear, while thinking that if Hercules cleaned the stables, people may elect him as their king and he may have to leave the throne. So he was suspicious: “Why does this man come without a cause to help us? There must be some selfish cause in him, otherwise why should he come this far to help us?” The king in his own petty way came up with a design. If Hercules cleanses the stables, it will be to the advantage of the king and the kingdom, and at the same time he would not like Hercules to gain supremacy over his kingdom. So he proposed to Hercules: “If you do it, I shall give you one tenth of my cattle”. He felt, that it was a good bargain to get rid of this man by sacrificing one tenth of what he has. He continued by saying: “but if you don't do it, your head will be chopped off. Is that agreeable?', the king asked.

A son of God is willing for any game for the benefit of the community or mankind, because he realizes that he is not the body. The body is a facility to express through. Functioning for the well-being of the community is much more than the pain of the individual body. Their comprehension of the situation is different from the comprehension of those who live within the personalities and individualities. They come according to the understanding given to them by their Teachers. They know that they need to sacrifice themselves in the process. They are self-forgetful in rendering the service. They don't care about their own requirements, because they are preoccupied about others requirements and their well-being. They are willing to sacrifice themselves. It is not just the sacrifice of a little time, a little money, and a little energy. It is the sacrifice of themselves with all that they have around, which is referred to as “the ritual of man-sacrifice”. The man-sacrifice results in total God Consciousness. That is how the transformation takes place, resulting in Permeating Consciousness.

Triveni

Hercules picked up the task, and the time given to him was a day! He quickly moved towards a mountain peak, meaning symbolically reaching his own Higher Consciousness within his own being. Then he got the flash (of solution). He saw two rivers flowing through the land. He got the flash, that if he could recourse these two rivers towards the stables, the rivers themselves would clean them! He brought the two rivers together and directed them towards the stables.

It is also symbolic. In us also, there are the Ida and the Pingala energies flowing through the body. When the two are brought together, there is the manifestation of Sushumna. That is what is called “the holy union of the three channels”, the holy union of the three rivers which is referred to as “Triveni”. Nicholas Roerich made a painting of a place called Allahabad. Allahabad means, “the abode of Allah”, and before that it was called Prayaga where there is the union of three rivers. One is Ganga, the other is Yamuna, and there is the undercurrent of the two as Saraswathi. Ganga and Yamuna seem to be apparently meeting on the surface. There is an invisible flow arising out of the two currents meeting as the third one.

Symbolically it is said that it is the abode of Lord Maitreya. In the Scriptures it is said, that the High Initiates used to meet Lord Maitreya at the place where there is the union of the three rivers. The union contemplated is in the Ajna Centre which is the region of Aquarius. When the two energies meet, there is the manifestation of Light. It is like the two arcs, when there is the contact between the two there is the manifestation of Light. It is also referred to as the Aaron's rod which the High Initiate Moses carried to complete the task given to him.

Similar was the situation with Hercules when he brought the two rivers together. We have a similar story in the Indian mythology where the elder brother of Lord Krishna, called Balarama, saw a situation where the land was getting dried up for want of pure waters. Life was drying up to death for want of waters of life. Balarama was said to have recoursed the river Yamuna with the help of his plough.

We find the same stories in every theology. The underlying idea is the same. It is bringing together the river flow within our being, representing the Ida and Pingala energies or the left and the right energies. When the left and the right energies are thus brought together, in the story of Hercules it is said, that the stables were completely cleaned. In the story of Balarama it is said, that the lands became fertile and the people started living, with much health and prosperity. In the story of Moses we find that he lead the people from slavery to liberation with the help of that rod.

The Inspiration of the Soul

As Hercules completed this task, the people of the kingdom rejoiced. Hercules came to the royal court and said, that the job was done. He only informed, he did not seek any remuneration, but in the mind of the king, there was the miserliness. He said: “You did it through a trick, but not through your labour. I did not see you doing it”. Nor Hercules felt, that he did it, he only said, that the job was done. He did not say: “I have done the job”. Thus, what Hercules said and what the king said was the same, but the understanding was different.

The king said: “Since you have used a trick, I don't give you one tenth of the cattle, that I promised”. Hercules smiled and returned to his Teacher, as he never sought any remuneration for doing it. He did it, because he was taught to do it. His Teacher is the Soul through whom he gets the intuition to do things. In the story of Hercules we see three aspects, before he springs into the labour. In the inner chambers of the Lord there came an impulse which was listened to by the Teacher and conceived as the labour of Hercules. So from Spirit to the Soul, from the Soul to the disciple, there is the passage of the Plan.

The work was done according to the inspiration coming from the Soul, hence there was no such thing as seeking a reward.

Working for the welfare of others without seeking reward is common to those who do not have causal bodies. I told you about the conditioning of the causal body where people function with a cause for an effect. Now Hercules had reached a state where he functioned without cause. He did not seek any kind of reward for what was being done. This is what we repeatedly find in the lives of the sons of God.

Periodically there is the son of man transforming into a son of God. As he transforms into a son of God, he conducts these labours, which result in the well-being of a large community. That is the work of Hercules in the eleventh house. It is a social welfare work at large that helps the realization of ideals.

Agastya

In this context, I would like to narrate to you one of the many accomplishments of Master Jupiter, the Master Aquarius, Agastya. Once upon a time this Earth was ruled by an emperor from the Solar Dynasty. He was applauded as an ideal king by the humans and the devas alike. The emperor was a King Initiate. During his rule, there emerged a crisis. Certain dark forces, hiding in the ocean waters, used to disturb the social order of the kingdom during the dark hours of the night. During the day they used to hide deep in the ocean and during the night, they used to go to the land and disturb the law and order. The king emperor was found helpless to deal with the situation. He consulted the wise men, who inturn told the king: “Only the great seer Agastya (Master Jupiter) can handle the crisis and no other on the planet”. The Solar King approached Agastya through deep meditation. Agastya, pleased with the invocation of the king through deep meditation, presented himself before the king, disappearing in the Nilagiris (The Blue Mountains of Southern India) and appearing in the capital city of the king (located in Northern India). The king offered worship to the Master and explained the persisting crisis. Agastya smiled and said: “I shall inhale the waters of the ocean into my being. Then the hidden forces become visible to you. You can kill them at once, when I hold the waters within. As soon as you kill the hiding dark forces, I shall once again release the water into the ocean-pit”. The king was pleased. The Master did what he said. The king killed the dark forces and the Master released the waters back!

Now this story is in relation to the labour in Aquarius. Contemplate upon the symbolism. The solar king is none other than you and me the individual Soul. The dark forces in waters are the emotional forces within the vital body. Master Jupiter is the Guru, the Teacher. The key is to work with deep inhalation which is the counterpart of exhalation, resulting in deep respiration. The consequence is that the Solar principle through inhalation reaches deep inside and expels the carbon through exhalation. Air is the medium. Aquarius is an airy sign. We can ponder upon further.

The Invisible Trick

It is the work, that is done for the benefit of the community. It is possible, in the third air of the zodiac. Aquarius is the spiritual air and the third airy sign, the first airy sign being Gemini and the second being Libra. His functioning is more with the help of the elementals of air than with the help of the gross physical things. That is the trick which is performed. The trick of air seems to be the invisible trick.

We see in mythology that very heavy things are moved in air through sound. Sound is the characteristic of the ether. Through sound we can do miracles in air, which is the science of occultism. That is why once again we land in the aspect of sound, when we think of air. The air can be purified through sound.

The entire work of Aquarius is functioning with the waters and with the aid of air and sound. The waters represent the waters of emotion, when they are cleaned, they are the waters of life. The cleaning can happen through air, or through the help of sound. It is a technology which is applied individually in occultism for transformation of the emotional nature into pure nature. But in the Aquarian Age the same thing happens at a macro level, that is the happening at the group level. Instead of things happening at a micro level, they do happen at a macro level. The sign of Aquarius also is indicative of it. It is the downpour of pure waters of life, symbolically meaning the downpour of “Plenty of Prana”.

The Aquarian Passage

There is the plenty of Prana supplied through the Aquarian constellation. The symbol of Aquarius shows the pot with an opening on either side. We see the; downpour of waters from this side of the opening, but we do not see what is happening on the other side of the opening. That part remains invisible until we gain the “Antahkarana Body”.

As the waters manifest we are able to see, but we are not able to see the source of its manifestation. That is why it is said symbolically, that the positive zero is known, but the passage from the negative to the positive is not known, and also the passage from positive to negative is not known. The passage from seeming nothingness to apparent something cannot be known unless the Aquarian Consciousness is gained.

The Aquarian Consciousness puts us in a state where it is neither true nor untrue. These are called the “Not Untrue Beings” the Nasatyas. It is being and not being at the same time. Krishna says: “It is being and not being, and the summation of the two”. You are there, and you are also not there. It is said: “to be and not to be”. That is the state in which we can see, that from the seeming nothingness the apparent everything is happening. That passage is called the Aquarian Passage which is realized when Uranus is stimulated in the being.

When the energy of Uranus is stimulated, the passage from the God Absolute to the God in Creation is known. That is how the Initiate who is functioning as a Soul becomes a Universal Soul and is in link with the God Absolute, the God beyond Creation.

First we realize God in us. This is said to be the state of a son of God. Then we realize the state of the Universal Soul Consciousness or awareness where we feel the same Existence in all that is seen in the Universe. Thereafter comes the “at-one-ment” with the Absolute. For want of terms the Absolute is called the God beyond Creation who functions through as God in Creation. In the Indian mythology the all-permeating God in Creation is called Vishnu. The God beyond Creation is called Siva. The God beyond Creation enters into the Creation and the passage for such entry is called the “Eye of Siva”. Normally for a student on the occult path 'the third eye' is opened during the process of building the Antahkarana, but the third eye of Siva in man is located in the centre of the head above the Ajna Centre and forms “the Higher Bridge”. The eye of Siva in us is far superior to the third eye in us. The eye of Siva is the Aquarian Passage, where the seeming nothingness transforms into apparent something. The passage stands for the gap between one Creation and the other and during the gap only Aquarius remains. The whole Creation is sucked through into God beyond and is to be drawn once again. That is how Aquarius is considered as the last of the sun signs before a major dissolution and the 1st when the Creation is to be. Later at the dawn of Creation there is the manifestation of Capricorn and Pisces. Such is the sublimity of Aquarius, hence it is considered as the most sacred sun-sign of the zodiac - so too Agastya - the Cosmic Master Jupiter, who exists in all planes.

The Work of the Saviour

We shall briefly consider the twelfth labour of Hercules to conclude the twelve labours. It shall be brief, because there is very little to be elaborated. The twelfth labour of Hercules relates again to the work of the World Saviour. As the work is completed, he moves into the Higher Circles. The glyph of Pisces indicates Alpha in Omega and Omega in Alpha. When the labours are conducted well, the advanced Initiate moves into the Higher Circles.

The Teacher told Hercules, that he had done well to be the son of God, and the Lord himself was pleased with the labours of Hercules. The Teacher was told that the son of man has turned totally into a son of God, and was secured now, secured for the Higher Circles, having conducted the labours well in this wheel.

The Teacher told Hercules to go once again into the lower regions to liberate the red cattle, which was beyond the waters, on the other side, under the control of a monster, supported by a dog with a double head. The monster had three heads and six hands and the dog had two heads. Once this labour was completed, Hercules would be secured to the Higher Circles.

Hercules took to the labour. On the way he worshipped the Fire God, the Lord of Fire called Agni, and secured a golden bowl. In that golden bowl he moved upon the waters and reached the island where the cattle was kept under the control of the monster. He killed the double headed dog and also killed the monster with the three heads and the six hands, secured the cattle into the golden bowl and restored the cattle into the sacred city.

The restoration of a group of beings to the sacred city is the work of the Saviour. It is securing a race towards Light. It is working in a fashion where mass Initiation is given, having realized himself as Light. There is the need to share the Light that is experienced, with a race. He gave the impulse which would last for centuries, and pave a path which was paved by his ancestors before. Then only the work of the son of God is complete as far as this cycle is concerned.

The golden bowl is the Golden Light which Hercules gained as his body. In that body he moved over the waters, the waters of life, that are in the involutionary process. He had to meet the monster with the three heads and the dog with the double head. In the path of involution there are three points where there is the fixation of the being. It is represented by going through the process of the first, second, and third fire to become the fire in matter; and by the first, second, and third air. Then the first, second, and third water and the first, second, and third matter. In respect to these four triangles, there is a triangular bondage in the process of involution which shall have to be unlocked in the process of evolution. There are the waters of the sky involving as waters of Cancer and reaching downdeep as the waters of Scorpio and later once again ascending into the skies through a process of distillation. This is what we see in the watery zodiacal signs.

Similarly we find it in the other elements too. The descent is threefold which is understood as Soul, personality, and individuality. It is a process of involution. Then there is the reversal of the path, where the waters that reach downdeep into the matter are once again lifted up. It is true with all the other elements like matter, fire, and air. When the two aspects, namely the individuality and the personality aspects are unlocked, one lives as Soul unconditioned by the personality and the individuality.

Now Hercules reached a state, where he was completing even the third aspect, the Soul aspect to become the Super Soul or the Universal Soul, merging into the Pool of Consciousness, and ascending from this wheel of involution and evolution. There he has a choice to spread himself in mid-air, so that through the utterance of the name he can be invoked. Or according to the option, he can move into the Higher Circles. There are some who chose to remain in mid-air. They spread in mid-air and their vibration reaches us as we utter their name. It is a question of choice being made.

In the case of Hercules, the Teacher said that Hercules shall be secured to the Higher Circles. Hercules conducted the task by alleviating a race who was in slavery. It is a mass Initiation that happens through the son of God, so that a substantial part of humanity is inspired to tread the Path of Light. The involution and evolution aspect relating to him is no more, as far as this cycle is concerned and that is said to be the dog with the two heads.

The Threee-Headed Monster

He has also overcomes the three distortions that happen during the involution. One distortion is the descent as it happens in Aries, the second distortion is the lateral sense which happens in Gemini and the third distortion is the vertical descent into the physical conditioning which happens in Libra. These are the three distortions that one is put to.

Thus there are three knots through which the Soul is bound to the body according to the functioning of the zodiacal signs around us. When the three knots are released, we are liberated from this wheel.

If we see the labours of Hercules, it is not as though the 12 labours are carried out in 12 months. When we go through the eleventh labour, there is a hint thrown, that each labour took him a cycle of 12 years. Thus, 12 times 12 is the cycle that he covered. It is not that we just go through one year and then we have covered all the labours, J many are the cycles, through which each of these labours are accomplished. Ultimately man is out of this wheel, when he has overcome the threefold conditioning which is referred to as the overpowering or vanquishing the monster with the three heads.

There is a grand Scripture in the East which speaks of this monster with the three heads, who is called “Tripurasura”. Asura means a 'monster' and Tripura means, 'three cities', in Sanskrit. The three cities are the three circumscriptions in which the beings live within a

system. Many are the secrets given in this Scripture called “The secret of the Tripurasura”, where the practices which we have been speaking of during the last one week are elaborately described. It is called “Tripurasura Rahasya” in Sanskrit. Rahasya means the secret relating to the monster of the three heads. It is a secret in so far as we are in the exoteric functioning. We shall have to work them out one by one.

The hero of the Tripurasura story is the will. Will is the only quality that the Soul requires to work out the three conditionings. The Scripture speaks of the Siva energy while explaining the labours relating to the three cities. There is also an explanation of these aspects through the descent of waters. It is said, that the waters of the sky have their vertical descent, then they make their horizontal movement, and reach the ocean which is called Patala or the nether world.

That is how it is depicted in the symbol of the Swastika.

(Fig.6)

There is the vertical descent and the horizontal flow upon earth, reaching downdeep into the nether regions. The first descent is in Aries, the lateral movement is in Gemini. In Libra we have elaborately spoken how we get into Patala the physical conditioning. Basically the labour of Hercules in the twelfth house is the labour relating to untying the three knots on account of which we live in this wheel, overcoming the involutionary and evolutionary aspects of this wheel. When the job is completed, Hercules was secured into the Higher Circles.

There are in short the labours relating to Hercules. They are profound in their description, and it is recommended, that at the beginning of every zodiacal sign the related story is studied with an understanding of its symbolism.

The story relating to each labour shows the areas where the disciple has to function and the areas where he has to be cautious. The slippery part relating to each month is described with the help of a story. At the beginning of every month one can go through the labour of that month and see what kind of tasks are contemplated by the time through that sign. That helps the one who is inclined to function with time.

The labours of Hercules are a modest presentation of a profound astrological symbolism. We grow familiar with the energies of each sign, which would enable us to dwell deep into the characteristics and the qualities of each sunsign. The twelve qualities of the sun are contemplated through the zodiacal signs. Through our movement around the sun in a year, we see the twelve dimensions of the sun which are the twelve phases of the sun.

It is also recommended that when we make a study of these sunsigns, we keep a symbol of a dodecahedron. It is also recommended in the East, that we get into the twelve syllabled mantra. It is by coincidence that this mantra is being recited during the full moon of this year: “OM NAMO BHAGAYATE VASUDEYAYA ”. This sound with the symbol of the dodecahedron enables a complete practice.

For the scientific manifestation of that which we contemplate, there is the process of Tantra. Tantra, as I repeatedly say, is a scientific procedure adapted in a rhythmic and ritualistic way in the presence of a Yantra or symbol, and a Mantra, meaning a sound formula. The Mantra and the Yantra are given, and in so far as we make a rhythmic functioning with them, the Tantra aspect is complete. This is in short the way to make an approach to these twelve labours of Hercules.

Let us try to live with the wisdom. There is no end for speaking wisdom and there is no end in our effort to live wisdom. If there are any instructions, that came out during the description of the twelve labours, they may please be picked up and worked out. Almost all important clues to every month are given. The concept as it exists in Greece is supplemented with the concept as it exists in the Vedic symbolism. So it is a supplementary work to the work that has already been done.

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First Edition: 1999
© Copyright: Dhanishta

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