Theosophy - Clairvoyance and theSerpent Fire by Goeffrey Hodson
CLAIRVOYANCE
AND THE SERPENT FIRE
By Geoffrey
Hodson
INTRODUCTION
Great value is to be
found in this little pamphlet by Mr. Geoffrey Hodson, value in three categories.
Firstly, not much information on Kundalini and its inherent awakening power
has been openly given to the world, for there are infinite dangers in its misuse
and misdirected development. Therefore, this brief treatise affords an interesting
introduction to the subject of the nature of the powers underlying true clairvoyance.
Secondly, Mr. Hodson
sounds a much needed warning to those who might heedlessly place themselves
in danger by attempting to purchase for physical value given and for personal
ends, spiritual powers that wise nature has ordained only for those who are
prepared beyond revocation to devote those powers, and indeed themselves, irretrievably
to the service of mankind.
And thirdly, and beyond
all else, this brief paper emphasizes the goal to the attainment of which all
powers should he directed. That goal, conscious union with the Supreme, Iies
at the end of the road, attainable by effort, on which the first step is utter
surrender of the self to the service of others in a recognition of the unity
of all men as brothers.
It is as an offering
on this road of service, telling of the powers with which he has direct and
personal experience, that Mr. Hodson gives this short treatise to the world.
Sidney A.Cook, Past
National President of The Theosophical Society in America
Superphysical vision
operates under precisely the same laws as those which govern physical vision.
All men possess some degree of superphysical vision when out of the physical
body during the hours of sleep. Furthermore, our astral and mental selves are
constantly receiving vibrations and decoding them into terms of consciousness,
quite apart from the activities of our physical bodies and brains. Happily these
subjective experiences do not normally enter the brain, which is not constituted
to withstand the strain of such intensive activity. It is indeed a merciful
dispensation of Providence, that at the present stage of brain development,
we are not clairvoyant by nature and that we do not remember our sleep activities
and our past lives.
Very special preparation
of the brain and nervous system is required, if our response to these incoming
superphysical vibrations is safely to be included in our physical waking consciousness,
as is the case in clairvoyance.
One reason for the warning
which all spiritual neophytes receive against the development of purely psychic
faculties as an end in itself -a warning which the author most strongly repeats-
is that the value of the results of superphysical vision are rarely comparable
in value to the susceptibility to strain and consequent lowering of physical
efficiency which added sensitivity inevitably produces.
Clairvoyance adds enormously
to the burden of life and renders physical existence infinitely more difficult
of endurance. When therefore one sees, especially in America, otherwise worthy
students paying large sums of money to self-styled Yogis, who in return offer
to open the occult centers, one is filled with dismay. Many of these men take
thousands of dollars out of large American cities and often leave behind them
a trail of nervous wrecks. Even experienced students are not proof against the
lure of occult powers easily acquired and are led away by these will-o'-the-wisps,
who thus prostitute the sacred science of Yoga and degrade the great title of
Yogi which they arrogantly and unworthily assume.
Union with the Supreme
-the only true Yoga- cannot be bought for "thirty pieces of silver."
Its price is life itself, life poured out in service and self-sacrifice. The
neophyte of undaunted will, who is ready to pay that price, and to train and
discipline his personality, will inevitably reach the goal of Union. If he aspires,
as he rightly may, to superphysical vision in order better to understand and
to serve, then he may rest assured that in the process of spiritual unfoldment
he will quite naturally and safely increase the range of his responsiveness,
gradually adding to it octave after octave of vibration beyond our physical
spectrum of light.
Superphysical vision
depends upon the passage of light energy from the object "seen," to
the surface of one of the superphysical bodies, and presumably also upon a synchronizing
of vibrations on the life side. From the surface of the body the light energy
is conveyed to the egoic center in the vehicle concerned, this being in the
head of the mental or emotional body. If, as in clairvoyance, the results are
to be known in the physical brain, then a means must be found of changing the
level of their manifestation from the superphysical to the physical.
There is a special mechanism
for this process which, as will be seen, is a direct reversal of that performed
by the physical parts of the mechanism of physical vision. In this case, the
process is one of "stepping down," to use an electrical term, perhaps
not quite accurately, though suggestively, and this is done by head chakrams
[Wide "The Chakrams" by C. W. Leadbeater, and "The Science
of Seership" by the author. ] and the pituitary and pineal
glands, after they have been vivified by Kundalini.
In superphysical vision
the cerebro–spinal system operates somewhat on the principle of a broadcasting
and receiving set. The pituitary and pineal glands correspond to the amplifying
valves or tubes. Kundalini -an occult energy resident in the body- and the two
vital airs, Ids and Pingala, to be explained directly, constitute
the charge generally drawn from the "mains" or battery, which in this
case is the sacral chakram, whilst the solar center in the middle of the earth
is the planetary power station.
At this point we must
give some consideration to the subject of Kundalini or "The Serpent
Fire" as it is sometimes called. If we turn to The Secret Doctrine[Op.
cit. by H. P. Blavatsky] -a veritable treasure house of spiritual
and occult knowledge- we find the author saying that the three conditions of
manifestation of the life-force are Kundalini, prana, and fohat.
They are stated to be fundamental and non-interchangeable in, this period of
manifestation.
Kundalini is
the power of giving or transmitting life; prana - known physically as
vitality - is the power of organizing life; and fohat is the power of
using and manipulating life. These three cosmic forces, manifestations of the
third, second and first aspects of the Logos, respectively, are found on every
plane of Nature in varying degrees of manifestation. Speaking of the "descent"
of man, the author of The Secret Doctrine says that the primordial triangle
(the Monad), as soon as it has reflected itself in the heavenly man (the ego),
disappears into silence and darkness. That triangle, which is composed of these
three forces, is "shifted in the man of clay below the seven." She
refers to the dense physical body, which she calls the man of clay, in which
we find these three forces represented.
Kundalini is
in essence creative, and though but comparatively slightly aroused in the dense
physical body it manifests itself as the sex urge. It resides coiled up like
a serpent, m the sacral chakram at the base of the spine, which in its
turn is a relay station for the similarly coiled up energy in the center of
the earth.
When awakened, Kundalini
flows up an etheric canal called the sushumna nadi in the spinal cord,
and passes through each of the force centers or chakrams in its journey. As
it passes through the spinal centers in which the chakrams arise, some
of its force flows down the axis of the funnel of each, vivifying it occultly
and thereby awakening the man to self–conscious existence on the inner
planes.
When it touches the
spleen center it gives the power of traveling at will whilst out of the body.
When it touches and opens the heart center, the power of Buddhic consciousness,
if sufficiently unfolded, begins to flow through the neophyte at the physical
level and the "mystic rose" to bloom upon his breast; the powers of
the Christ-consciousness then begin to manifest themselves in and through the
personal vehicles. The throat center, when vivified, bestows the power of clairaudience,
or of responding to superphysical sound vibrations as well as to those physical
sounds which are beyond the normal range. The brow center, when open, bestows
the faculty of clairvoyance, and when the coronal chakram, which is situated
at the anterior fontanel, is opened, the interplay between the ego and the brain
is marvellously free, so that gradually the neophyte acquires the power of using
his higher, spiritual consciousness, simultaneously with that of the physical
brain.
The full manifestation
of all these powers during waking consciousness demands a long and arduous training;
it necessitates the complete vivification of the pituitary and pineal glands
by means of Kundalini and its complementary forces. This process renders the
glands hyperactive from an occult point of view and capable of responding to
and transmitting into the brain -also rendered hypersensitive- superphysical
rates of vibration and superphysical consciousness. After that, superphysical
vision is largely a matter of the focus of consciousness and of practice.
As stated above
Kundalini rises up the sushumna nadi and is accompanied by two complementary
forces, one positive and the other negative, which are called respectively,
Ids and Pingala. Actually these two terms refer to two canals
or passages in the spinal cord, along which akashic energies accompany the flowing
serpent fire. These two oppositely polarized akashic forces meet and cross at
each of the chakrams as they rise, and finally pass, one into the pituitary
and the other into the pineal gland.
Here one recognizes
the ancient symbol of the Caduceus. This symbol consists of a rod,
round which two serpents are coiled, with their tails at the bottom
and their bodies winding in opposite directions up to a winged sphere,
which crowns the symbol. The Caduceus is the staff which the god Mercury
is said to carry with him in his capacity as messenger of the gods.
It is the Grecian symbol of Kundalini flowing up the spinal
cord which is the rod. The two serpents represent Ida and
Pingala, whilst the winged sphere symbolizes the freed soul of
the man who has awakened and learned to use these hidden powers. He
does indeed become a Messenger from heaven to earth, for he ranges
free in the inner egoic worlds and brings to men the knowledge and
wisdom of those lofty realms; technically he is known as a "Walker
of the Skies." (A cosmic interpretation of the Caduceus will
be found in The Secret Doctrine, Volume I, page 600, 3rd edition.)
This profoundly occult
information is not given to us in order that we should try immediately to awaken
Kundalini. On the contrary, we are strongly warned against any such attempt;
it is of value, however, to study the subject academically, both to avoid errors
arising from misconceptions and to acquire valuable knowledge in readiness for
the time when the hidden power is to be aroused.
The story
of the Sleeping Beauty may refer to the awakening of Kundalini in
man. The princess -the personality- slept through the ages until at
last Prince Charming -the ego, or the Master- came and found her in
her palace of sleep, signifying the physical plane, and awakened her
with a kiss. Prince Charming is the Master, or perhaps the spiritual
will by which power alone this force may be awakened in advance of
its normal time. The kiss symbolizes the touch of the descending Atma
(a Sanskrit term for the highest principle of man, that of spiritual
will), which awakens the soul and calls forth its inner powers. The
marriage of the hero and heroine at the end of the story corresponds
to the union of the higher and lower selves, which occurs when this
stage of development has been reached.
The great mass of humanity
are as yet asleep from this point of view and must slumber on until the hour
of awakening strikes.
Students sometimes find
this force arising quite naturally and are prone to be disturbed by the somewhat
unusual sensations produced. These are a sense of burning in the spine, a feeling
of a rising or even rushing energy flowing up into the head, temporarily confusing
the mind, movement, as of an insect walking on the skin of the forehead or scalp,
a whirling sensation in the brain, throat, heart or solar plexus, the appearance
of colors either in clouds or as flashes of light, and sometimes a curious sense
of double consciousness in which one part of the mind is confused or distressed
by the strange occurrence and another quite at peace and even in a state of
exaltation.
There is nothing to
fear in all this. The mind must be kept quiet, all meditative exercises suspended
and the new experience observed with detachment until the hyperactivity of the
mechanism of consciousness subsides and the first flow of the energy dies down.
It is of the utmost
importance that no student of the inner life should ever concentrate upon Kundalini,
upon the various centers or specific parts of the body or brain; for in this
practice great danger lies.
The purpose of spiritual
endeavor is not the development of psychic gifts or magical powers. The goal
is union with the Supreme and the power to perceive the one Life amid all the
great diversity of forms. Here the Bhagavad-Gita proves to be an unfailing source
of guidance and inspiration. The true goal of seership is indicated in the following
immortal slokas:
"The Yogi who
thus, ever harmonizing the self hath put away sin, he easily enjoyeth the
infinite bliss of contact with the Eternal.
"The self, harmonized
by yoga, seeth the Self abiding in all beings, all beings in the Self, everywhere
he seeth the same.
"He who seeth
Me everywhere, and seeth everything in Me, of him will I never lose hold,
and he shall never lose hold of Me.
"He who, established
in unity, worship Me, abiding in all beings, that Yogi liveth in Me, whatever
his mode of living.
"He who, through
the likeness of the Self, O Arjuna, seeth equality in everything, whether
pleasant or painful, he is considered a perfect Yogi. (Discourse 6, Slokas
28 and 32 inclusive, and Sloka 47.).[0p. cit. Trans. by A.
Besant. ]
For this illumination,
this fulfillment, the soul of the awakened neophyte is ever athirst. When once
that thirst is experienced it gives him no rest. Life after life, a resistless
interior impelling power drives him on. A vision of immortal beauty and perfection
attracts and calls him; whilst throughout his great quest, the "light that
never was on land or sea" shines about him and illumines his pathway to
that eternal bliss and peace which he knows awaits him at the end. |