"The
insistence of the later Brãhminical Scriptures on pilgrimages as
a means of spiritual education is well known. At the present day there
is hardly a pious Hindû, of whatever set and in whatever part of
India, who considers his or her religious duties performed without visiting
the principal places of pilgrimage. In this respect the modern Hindû differs
so completely from his Christian contemporaries, that the latter would
hardly credit what a vast number of pilgrims annually circulate over the
country to fulfil their religions obligations, and to what trouble and
expense they put themselves for the purpose. [Page
2]
With the social aspect of
the question, the present paper is not concerned. It is proposed to
examine what real good pilgrimage in India does produce in the spiritual
education of the people, and what is the rationale of the institution.
The places of pilgrimage are so numerous and their esoteric significance
so deep, that anything like completeness must be disclaimed by the present
writer. At the same time the hope is expressed that the lines of inquiry
indicated herein may be followed up by competent scholars and mystics,
so that the highly beneficial character of pilgrimages may be made apparent
to all open-minded people, and the great wisdom of his ancestors shown
to the Hindû of the present day.
"In
the first place it is to be remarked that the sacred cities of the Hindûs
are well organised and powerful spiritual centres, and from them there
radiates an elevating influence which is not the less active because
unperceived by the ordinary Philistine.
" Places
of pilgrimage are truly spiritual seminaries, which, though completely
closed to the idler and the superstitious in selfish quest of personal
holiness and personal salvation, are ever open to receive the earnest
and devoted searcher after truth. The statement may be boldly made and
the support of all true mystics confidently expected on its behalf, that
there is no important place of pilgrimage in India which does not enjoy
the presence, in most cases permanent, [Page 3] of some adept or initiate of
a high order, who is ever ready to point the path to the higher life into which
he himself has entered. It is a matter of common experience that people's
spiritual eyes have been opened in these holy cities under the benign
influence of some great Sãdhu (sinless man). But, for reasons
which will be readily understood, the pious hand must not seek to withdraw
the veil of obscurity which shrouds the holy men and their work. The members
of the silent brotherhood will but speak to those whose karma deserves
it. Shankarãchãrya says :
These three are difficult to attain and are due to the favor of the gods (i.e.,
the good karma of previous births): — Humanity, desire for liberation,
and contact with great spiritually-minded men.
“The
holy cities were built, or at all events completed, in the later epochs
of Brãhmanic history. When the spirituality of mankind began to be
clouded by progressive materiality, consequent upon the desire of selfish
enjoyment, the seclusion of the adepts became greater, and the sacred
Samskrt language became daily less understood. As a remedy for this
great cyclic evil, the holy ones of the earth left to the profane vulgar
the symbolical architecture of the great temples, which yet serve as finger-posts
to the mystical student. Very few persons are aware that as the [Page
4] pilgrim stands on the bridge
of boats on the Ganges before Benares, he is face to face with a most
sublime and awful mystery, the full import of which none but the higher
initiates comprehend. This mystery is represented by the general aspect
of the holy city, whose two Samskrt names — Kãshî and
Vãranasi — will
yield a mine of truth to the earnest inquirer. It is not for us to elucidate
the point; for the present it will suffice to suggest to the reader a
fruitful field of inquiry, where each will be rewarded according to his
earnestness and spiritual penetration.
“What
is Kãshî ?
“The
question has been answered in a well-known treatise by a celebrated mystic,
Satyajñãnãnandatîrtha-yati. He says that Kãshî is
the supreme power of the great God Shiva who is the undifferentiated Bliss,
Consciousness, and Being. [The word Sat has been roughly translated
being, as the English language does not afford a better word: Be-ness
if allowed in English would be a more adequate rendering] Shiva or
Peace here represents the fourth or unmanifested state of the universe. He
is the Chidãkãsha, his other name being Vyoma or space, the
small circle or dot which is placed on the top of the Samskrt mystic symbol Om ().
What relation it has to the force located in the human body above the eyebrows,
and represented by the dot over the crescent moon, the Mystic knows very
well. Kãshî is called the
goddess who embodies Consciousness and Bliss, and is the same as the Shakti
or Power [Page
5] to whom the sacred verses
of Shankarãchãrya —
Ânandalahari —are addressed. The great teacher says
that if Shiva is not united to Shakti he cannot produce even a flutter
of well-being. Shakti is adorable of Hari, Hara, and Viriñchi.
By once turning the key of the symbology here adopted we find that
Hari or Vishnu is the dreaming state of the universe, the first differentiated
aspect of the darkness, the destroyer or remover Hara. Although Hara
is usually taken as a loose synonym for Shiva, it is here used with
the deliberate object of implying that the transcendental state of
the universe, emblematized by Shiva, is beyond the state of the destroyer,
as the turîya state is beyond the sushupti,
Shiva is Para-nirvãna, while Hara is Nirvãna. It is easily
intelligible how to the popular mind no distinction is observable between
Nirvãna and
Para-nirvãna. Hari, we have said, is the first differentiated
condition realized by the human ego. He is therefore the son represented
by the sign Leo on the Zodiac (see Mr. Subba Row's invaluable article
on the Twelve Signs
of the
Zodiac in The Theosophist,
Vol. III). Viriñchi or Brahmã the
Creator is the aggregation of the perceptible universe. Shakti is therefore
above these three, and the consort of Shiva. This explains why Kãshî is
called Tripurãraidhãma, the royal residence of the destroyer
of the three cities, the undifferentiated synthetic condition of the
three states mentioned above. With regard to the human ego the [Page
6] three cities are the
three bodies, gross, subtile and causal, beyond which is the spirit.
From this it also becomes clear that Kãshî is the eternal Chinmãtra which
has been well explained by Mr. Subba Row in his article on Personal
and Impersonal
God — (The
Theosophist, Vol. IV). It
also becomes manifest from this that in one of its aspects
Kãshî is prajñã,
in which is realized the great formula "Thou art It" .
This prajñã is the mother of mukti or liberation,
as all Vedãntins
know. The Tîrthayati says: ' I make salutation to that Kãshî by
whose favor I am Shiva', and I know Shiva to be the spirit of all
that is. Kãshî is
prajñã,
Buddhi, Shakti or Mãyã, the different names of the
divine Power which dominates throughout the universe; in fact, it
is one aspect of the One Soul. The above-quoted Mystic states further:
'This Kãshî is the
power of Shiva, the supreme consciousness, but not different from
him. Know Kãshî to
be the same as Shiva and the supreme Bliss. . . Kãshî is
that by which the supreme reality of the spirit is manifested or in which
it is so manifested. She is also sung as the Chinmãtra;
I make salutation to her, the supreme Knowledge. Elsewhere the same
writer calls Kãshî the darkness
(Shyãmã).' This Darkness is the undifferentiated matter
of the Cosmos, beyond which dwelleth the sun-colored one, the spirit.
In the Psalms this
Asat or Prakrti is referred to in the highly poetical passage: '
There is darkness round his pavilion'. [Page
7]
“Krshna, the supreme Spirit, is
dark in his human form. No human eye can penetrate beyond this
divine darkness. In some Vaishnava work it is stated that on one occasion
Krshna transformed himself into Shyãmã in
Kãlî (darkness in its feminine aspect), thus hinting
at the truth which reveals itself to the spiritual eye of intuition.
Unconsciously guided by the higher light, the Christian Church
believes that Jesus Christ was black
and
comely, although the passage in The Song
of Solomon in which the
expression occurs has no relation whatever to Christ.
“To
return to Kãshî in its aspect of Buddhi. It is to be remembered
that Buddhi is the first differentiation of Prakrti. According to Kapila,
Buddhi is the determination (adhyavasãya) in nature of Prakrti
to evolve egotism. Buddhi has three conditions or aspects. Its own essentially
pure condition is that in which it is identical with Prakrti, in which
the three substantive qualities of goodness (sattva), passional
activity (rajas) and delusion
(tamas), are in a state of equilibrium and in that sense non-existent.
This Buddhi is the mother of salvation; in fact it is salvation. When under
the influence of rajas the quality of sattva predominates,
four things are generated: the practice of virtue (dharma), dispassion
(vairãgya),
the spiritual powers (aishrarya), and finally salvation, when by the
excess of goodness Buddhi returns to its original state of purity. When under
some influence tamas predominates, the four opposites of what is [Page
8] stated
above are produced. Tamas by its enveloping power (ãvarana shakti)
makes the one reality in the universe appear as the differentiated universe
of matter, and then rajas by its expansive power (vikshepa shakti}
produces the passions which are the cause of bondage.
“These
three conditions of Buddhi the Tîrthayati gives as aspects of Kãshî: Nirvishesha (undifferentiated), Shuddha (pure,
when the sãttvika quality
predominates) and jada (when tamas predominates). One under the
domination of tamas looks upon the geographical Kãshî as
the reality :
“ The
Shuddha Kãshî is the abstract consciousness still limited
by forms:
“One
under the domination of the sattva quality practices virtue, still
ascribing good and evil to nature around him.
“In
her Nirvishesha condition, Kãshî is self-existent in her glory,
and is the supreme God of Shiva and of all liberated souls :
“We
shall now understand why it is generally believed that residence in Kãshî removes
all sins committed elsewhere, but a sin committed in the [Page 9] temple
of the Lord, Kãshî itself renders one incapable of receiving
grace — the reference being to the spiritual evil, the sin against the
Holy Ghost, for which there is no remission. The wretch who knows the truth and
follows the left hand path is doomed to nameless misery in Avîchi Nirvãna.
“The
Tîrthayati says: ' Terrible indeed is the suffering of one who commits
a sin in Kãshî. Alas ! the state of a Rudra pishãcha
that the sinner attains is more intolerable than the suffering of all the
hells.'
“By
the acquisition of true knowledge all sins are consumed by the fire kindled
in the hearth of heart (chidagnikundam), but there is no hope for
the damned soul who murders his spirit, as far as that is possible, by the
practice of black magic.
“Without
prolonging the present paper, the student may be recommended to the Skanda-Purãna for
further information on this subject; and in conclusion, it may be stated
that the practical Occultist will derive great benefit from a proper study
of the Tîrthayati's treatise, which has here been
so largely quoted."
I
will add a few remarks to the foregoing communication. It will be no exaggeration
to say that the secrets of the ancient archaic science, for which an inquirer
will search in vain the mystical books of the East, are often symbolically
represented in some of the most celebrated places of pilgrimage in India.
The mysterious ideas generally associated with the position of Benares
(Kãshî), its past history and its [Page
10] innumerable
gods and goddesses, contain clearer indications of the secrets of final
initiation than a cart-load of books on Yoga philosophy. Look again at
Chidambaram and examine carefully the plan on which its celebrated
temple was built by Patañjali, by the light of the Kabalistic, the Chaldean,
the Egyptian and the Hindû doctrines relating to the great mystery of the
Logos. You are far more likely to penetrate this mystery by such a course
of study than by examining all the obscure statements of the ancient
initiates regarding the sacred voice of the great deep and the impenetrable
veil of Isis. Masons are searching in vain for the lost golden delta of Enoch;
but an earnest seeker of truth who has comprehended the rules of interpretation
which are applicable to such subjects will not find it very difficult to discover
this delta in Chidambaram. Similarly, various occult secrets find their true
interpretation and explanation in Shrîshailam,
Rãmanãth, Jagannãth, Allahabad and other places, justly
considered as sacred, owing to their various associations, by the followers of
the Hindû
religion. It would require several volumes to explain at length the sacred
symbols connected with these places and their mystic significance, and to
interpret in a proper manner the Sthalapurãnams relating thereto.
As no writer was permitted in ancient times to divulge in clear language
the secrets of occult science to the public, and as books and libraries
could be easily destroyed either by the [Page
11] ravages of time
or the vandalism of barbarous invaders, it was thought proper to
preserve, for the benefit of posterity, in strong and lasting edifices
of granite, some of the greatest secrets known to the designers of
these buildings, in the form of signs and symbols. The very same necessity
which brought into existence the Sphinx and the great pyramid
led the ancient leaders of Hindû religious thought to construct
these temples, and express in stone and metal the hidden meaning
of their doctrines. A few explanations and suggestions will be sufficient
to justify the foregoing statements, and indicate the manner in which
these symbols should be interpreted.
A
Samskrt verse is often repeated by Hindûs, which says that
journeys to seven places of pilgrimage will secure Moksha to the
devotee. The places are enumerated thus: (1) Ayodhyã, (2)
Mathurã, (3) Mãyã, (4) Kãshî (Benares),
(5) Kañchî, (Conjiveram), (6)
Avantikã (Ojeen) and (7) Dvãraka. Now, these places
are intended to represent the seven centers of occult energy in the human
body, known as (1) Sahasrãra, (2) Ãjña, (3) Vishuddhi,
(4) Anãhata, (5)
Svãdhishthãna, (6) Manipûraka and (7) Mûlãdhãra
respectively. The ideas associated with these places will become intelligible
when examined by the light of the doctrines connected with these force-centers
recognized by Yogis.
It
is generally believed by the Hindûs that death in Benares
secures final emancipation from the [Page 12] necessity of a rebirth. This belief is
so strong in the minds of the ordinary people as to lead a considerable
number to resort to this place every year for the purpose of remaining there
till they die.
This
certainly appears to be a ridiculous superstition. But a great spiritual
truth is lurking behind this strange belief. This truth will become apparent
when we ascertain what death at Benares is really intended to mean. From
the foregoing arrangement of the seven sacred places alluded to, it will
be seen that Benares corresponds to the heart in the human body, in the
center of which the Anãhata chakram of the Yogîs
is located; and the truth of this inference is further strengthened by the
manner in which Kãshî is
described in the Sankalpam (preliminary recitation before bathing
or commencing any worship). It is therein said that Benares is between Asi
and Varuna; that it is situated in Ânandavana; that it is in Mahãsmashãna
(or the great crematorium or burial ground); that it stands in front of
Gaurî;
that it is held up by the three points of the trident of Shiva; that it
is in the midst of Brahmanãlam (the narrow passage of Brahman), going
now northwards, and that it is at the end of Mani (Manikarnikã means
Pranavakarnikã). It may be easily seen now how far this is a figurative
representation of the Anãhata chakra of the Yogîs.
This chakra is between
the two Nãdîs, Idã and Pirigala in the human body, which
are represented by the two small streams Asi [Page
13] and Varuna named in the foregoing
description. The state of ecstasy is realized when consciousness
is centered in the germ of prajñã, which is placed
in this chakra,
and hence Benares is an Ânandavana, which literally means
a pleasure garden. When this centralization of consciousness in the germ
of prajñã is
secured, the objective consciousness realized in the physical body
and in the astral body entirely ceases; consequently before the spiritual
consciousness of the regenerated Spirit (the Christ after resurrection)
is awakened, the condition realized may be compared to that of sound
sleep or sushupti — the death of the incarnated Christ,
the death of the individual man. This is the time of the great peace
and calm after the tempest. Hence Kãshî or Anãhata chakra,
wherein this condition is realized, is the great burial ground or burning
ground, as everything — the ego and the non-ego — seems
to be dead and buried for the time being. Gauri is the Sophia of the
Gnostics and the Isis of the Egyptians. When this condition — that
of prajñã — is
reached, the Spirit is in front of the Divine Light and Wisdom, and ready
to behold the mysterious Goddess without the veil as soon as its spiritual
eyes are opened on the other side of the Cosmos.
Hence
Benares is in Gaurîmukham. This condition again marks the
termination of the three conditions of consciousness experienced by the
incarnated spirit, viz., the ordinary, the clairvoyant and the Devachanic [Page
14] conditions. These three states of differentiated prajñã are
the three points of Shiva's trident. Again Anãhata chakra is
in the Sushurnnã nãdi — a
mysterious and narrow passage running through the spinal cord to the
crown of the head, and through which vital electricity flows, and Benares
is therefore said to be in Brahmanãlam, which is another name for
Sushmnã
nãdî. Further, the condition above alluded to is represented
by the dot over Pranava, as our correspondent says, and hence Benares
is described as Manikarnikã
.
It will thus be seen that Benares is an external
symbolical representation of the Anãhata chakra of
the Yogîs. Death in Benares therefore
means the concentration of prajñã, in the original germ consciousness, which
constitutes the real individuality of the man. It must further be noticed
that Sahasrãra represents the positive pole and mulãdhãra the
negative pole in the body. From the mysterious union of their energies
in the heart the sacred and irrepressible (anãhata) voice
is generated in the Anãhata
chakra. This voice is heard when the tempestuous activity of conscious
existence terminates in the death of Sushupti, and out of the ashes of
the individual man the regenerated man springs into existence electrified
by this song of life. Hence it is stated that when a man dies
at Benares, Rudra (a form or manifestation of Thoth, the Initiator),
communicates to him the secret of the Logos and [Page
15] secures rnoksha for him. It will be clear
now that the popular belief is full of meaning to a student of occult
science. Similarly the traditions connected with every other important
place of pilgrimage will yield much valuable information when properly
interpreted.