The Secrets of Nature and of Occult Sciences cannot be revealed to the profane, who will desecrate them and turn into a weapon against humanity. They can only be imparted to a regular chela of many years’ standing, pledged to silence and secrecy during his successive initiations. Such Secrets do exist and are defended with one’s life. Occult Truth is Nature without the illusory veil of the Five Senses. Reason is purely human; instinct, an endowment of Deity. Sixth Sense is Reason over instinct, i.e., Mental Fire perceiving and registering the other Five. The Sixth Sense is spiritual clairvoyance, as opposed to psychic. The former is normal and real; the latter, abnormal and counterfeit. Not before developing his Sixth Sense, will the man of science concede the error of his theories as to the solar spectrum, unless he retracts his marked weakness for conditional and disjunctive syllogisms ending in eternal dilemmas. Appearances are deceitful, says a Master of Wisdom. While the astronomer has elucidated the visible relations of the orbs of space, he knows nothing of their inner constitution. Similarly, the knowledge of geologist and physiologist is confined to man’s outer shell. The Adept cannot cross bodily the limits of the solar system, yet he knows that far stretching beyond the telescopic power of detection there are systems upon systems, the smallest of which would, when compared with the system of Sirius, make the latter seem like an atom of dust imbedded in the great Gobi desert. Divine Wisdom alone can carry us to the perfect state of Jivanmukta, by teaching us what is true and what is false. Till then, the next best thing to learning what is true is to ascertain what is not true. With biographical notes on Frederick W.H. Myers, Sir William Crookes, and Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner.

Jesus and Apollonius were healers and were both addressed as Kings. Apollonius was a Nirmanakaya. He was accused of confining his teachings to the rich. But like Jesus and Buddha, Apollonius was the uncompromising enemy of all show of piety, all display of religious ceremonies, bigotry and hypocrisy. Clergy demand blind faith by forbidding inquiry as the one unpardonable sin. Their Bible is not the Word of God, but the words of fallible men and imperfect teachers. Every revealer of truth has to become “man of sorrow” and martyr. Jesus Chrestos, a virtuous man in his trial of life, was reborn Christos, a Nirmanakaya. But the former suffered much less than Gautama. On Buddha’s rebirths and migrations, and the Apollonius connection. The Romish Church claimed Gautama Buddha as one of their converts and elevated him to sainthood! But neither Gautama nor Jesus tolerated priestcraft. God’s “little children” were Great Initiates, saving mankind from the insanities of materialism and pessimism. The legendary parts of the lives of Buddha and Jesus are identical. The riddle of the “marriage” at Cana unriddled and the trials of the Sun-Initiate unravelled. Was Shankaracharya Gautama Buddha?

Gautama’s unintentional mistake of promulgating the dead body of Esoteric Teaching without its vivifying soul, had disastrous effects. But Karma little heeds intentions, whether good or bad, if they remain fruitless. Today, though Gautama is in Nirvana, His subtle body is still present among the Initiates. He will not leave the realm of conscious being, so long as suffering mankind needs His divine help. The middle principles of Gautama Buddha, which did not go to Nirvana, formed the middle principles of Shankara, the earthly Entity. It is therefore nearer the truth to say that the “astral” Gautama, or Nirmanakaya, was the upadhi of Shankara’s spirit and not a reincarnation of Gautama. Shankara was born in 510 BC, 51 years and 2 months after the date of Buddha’s Nirvana. He had nothing to do with Buddhist persecution. Then the “astral” Gautama entered the outward Shankara, whose Atman was, nevertheless, His own divine prototype. Shankara was a Buddha, an enlightened one, but not a typical reincarnation of Gautama Buddha. He was direct incarnation of Logos, one of the Primordial Seven Rays, an Avatara in the full sense of the term. The Nazarene Sage was a Bodhisattva with the spirit of Buddha in Him. Jesus had promised His disciples the power of producing “miracles” far greater than He had ever produced, but died leaving but a few disciples, men only half-way to knowledge. The unequal favour of Karma between Gautama and Jesus can be explained by the necessity of a sacrificial Nirmanakaya, ready to suffer for the misdeeds or mistakes of the new body in its earth-pilgrimage, without any future reward on the plane of progression and rebirth. The Higher Self is not in such a case attached to the lower Ego; its connection is only temporary, and in most cases it acts through decrees of Karma. When the Shruti reached the ear of Gautama, He accepted the revelation while rejecting the later overgrowth of Brahmanical thought and fancy. As in the case of His Western Successor, Gautama was the first of the Eastern Hierarchy of Adepts, who was moved by that generous feeling which locks the whole of mankind within one embrace, with no petty differences of race, birth, or caste. He desired to atone for the sin of His enemies. Then only was He willing to become a full Dharmakaya, a Jivanmukta “without remains.” Shankara, the Great Dravidian Guru, the Adept of adepts, lives to this day in His spiritual entity as a mysterious, unseen, yet overpowering presence among the Brotherhood of Shambhala.

The key to the Mystery of Buddha and that of other Adepts lies in the correct understanding of the reflections in man of the Seven Principles or Powers in Nature, physically; and of the Seven Hierarchies of Being, intellectually and spiritually. The Seven Principles are the manifestation of One Indivisible Spirit, but only at the end of the Manvantara, when the seven merge once again into Absolute Unity, uncreated and impartite. The purified Egotistical Principle, the astral and personal ego of an Adept, though merging with its Highest Ego (Atma-Buddhi) may, for purposes of universal mercy and benevolence, separate itself from its divine Monad as to lead, on this plane of illusion and temporary being, a distinct independent conscious life of its own, under a borrowed illusive shape, thus serving at one and the same time a double purpose: the exhaustion of its own individual Karma, and the saving of millions of human beings less favoured than itself from the effects of mental blindness. Disembodied consciousness is not an effect, but a cause. Such consciousness is a ray of the all-pervading, limitless Flame, the reflections of which alone can differentiate. And, as such, consciousness is ubiquitous: it can be neither localized nor centred on any particular subject. Its effects alone are felt in the region of matter, but consciousness in itself remains the highest quality of the sentient spiritual principle within, the Divine Soul, and does not belong to the plane of materiality. After the death of the physical man, if he be an Initiate, his human consciousness is transformed into the independent Principle itself and, therefore, the former personal ego becomes pure and impersonal consciousness, untainted by any ego. The Bodhisattva becomes a Buddha (Enlightened) and a Nirvani through personal effort and merit, after having had to undergo all the hardships of every other neophyte — not by virtue of a divine birth, as thought by some. It was only the reaching of Nirvana while still living in the body on this earth, that was due to his having been in previous births high on the Path of Inner Wisdom. Once a man delivers himself from the snare of separateness, merging his self in the Universal Self, spiritual powers hitherto dormant in him are awakened, mysteries in invisible Nature are unveiled to him, and he becomes a Dhyani-Buddha — divine Flame and free Will in man. Then, as a Dhyani-Buddha himself, he can create mind-born Bodhisattvas. Twenty years after His outward death, Tathagata in His immense love and mercy for erring and ignorant humanity, refused Parinirvana in order that He might continue to help men on earth. Vajrasattva is the regent or chief of the Dhyani-Chohans or Dhyani-Buddhas, the Supreme Buddha; personal, yet never manifesting objectively. He is the “One without Beginning or End,” in short, the Logos of Buddhism. Vajrasattva is also Vajradhara, or Dorjechang. The two are one, and over them is the Supreme Unmanifested and Universal Wisdom that has no name. As two-in-one, They are the Power that subdues and conquers evil from the beginning, allowing it to reign only over willing subjects on earth, and having no power over those who despise and hate it. This dual personage has the same role assigned to it in canonical and dogmatic Tibetan Buddhism, as have Jehovah and the Archangel Mikael, the Metatron of the Jewish Kabbalists — which is an absurdity. The Roman Catholics identify Christ with Mikael, who is also his ferouer, or “face,” mystically. This is precisely the position of Vajrasattva in Northern Buddhism. For the latter, in His Higher Ego as Dorjechang, is never manifested, except to the seven Dhyani-Chohans, the primeval Builders. Esoterically, He is the Spirit of the Seven collectively, and Their highest principle or Atman. Metatron is the Greek Αγγελος (Messenger), or Great Teacher. Mikael fights Satan, the Dragon, and conquers him and his Angels. The War in Heaven of the Christian legend is based upon bad angels having discovered the magical wisdom of the good ones, and the mystery of the Tree of Life. Let anyone read simply the exoteric accounts in the Hindu and Buddhist Pantheons — the latter version being taken from the former — and he will find both resting on the same primeval, archaic allegory from the Secret Doctrine. At whatever age one puts off his outward body by free will, at precisely that age will he be made to die a violent death against his will in his next rebirth. Who, then, was punished by Karma? Karma cannot act unjustly. There is some terrible mystery involved in this story, one that no uninitiated intellect can ever unravel. Shankaracharya died at thirty-two years of age, or rather disappeared from the sight of his disciples, as the legend goes. All is darkness and mystery in it, for it is evidently written but for those who are already instructed. Lord Buddha lived one hundred years in reality though, having reached Nirvana in his eightieth year, he was regarded as one dead to the world of the living. It is not lawful to say any more, for the time has not yet come when nations are prepared to hear the whole truth. It will be sufficient to know that while Gautama Buddha remains merged in Nirvana ever since his death, Gautama Shakyamuni may have had to reincarnate — His dual inner personality being one of the greatest mysteries of Esoteric psychism. Karma exercises its sway over the Adept as much as over any other man. “Gods” can escape it as little as simple mortals. Karma is absolute justice and infallible in its selections. Thus Buddha’s first reincarnation was produced by Karma, and it led Him higher than ever; the two following were “out of pity” and [ . . . ]

Kali-Yuga is the age of darkness, misery, and sorrow we live in. However, there is one thing peculiar to the present age that may be used by the student. Consciousness’ eternal pilgrimage from Light to Darkness is a long cycle from Alpha to Omega. When the Kalki-Avatara appears, our sufferings in this world will come to an end. If Vishnu is represented in his forthcoming and last appearance as the Tenth Avatara, it is only because every unit held as an androgyne manifests itself doubly. Messiah is the fifth emanation, or potency. The Kalki-Avatara will come forth from Shambhala, the City of Gods. The heaven will open and He will appear on a white horse. In him was life, and Life was the Light of men. He is the beginning and the end of separateness (i.e., selflessness). He will appear as Maitreya-Buddha in the Seventh Race. The first teacher of this round, on this planet, was a Dhyani-Chohan. The one who will appear at the close of the Seventh Race will again be a Dhyani-Chohan. He will incarnate into the whole humanity collectively, not individualised in one man. Then justice, order, and true brotherly love will be finally restored on earth. What can the true and earnest Theosophists do against the Black Age or Kali Yuga? With Appendices on the “Designations of Kalki-Avatara in major religions, and “Calendar of the Race that never dies.”

Whenever there is a decline of virtue, an uprising of vice and injustice in the world, a Great Soul incarnates on earth for the establishment of righteousness, the destruction of the wicked, and the preservation of the just. The Hindu Redeemer preceded the Christian by some thousands of years; between the two, Gautama Buddha, reflected Krishna (who appears in every yuga) and projected into the night of the future his own luminous shadow, out of whose collected rays were shaped the outlines of the mythical Jesus, and from whose teachings were drawn those of the historical Christos. Krishna, Gautama, and Jesus appeared like true gods, each in his epoch, and bequeathed to humanity three great religions built on the imperishable rock of ages. If their religions are cleansed from the dross of priestly dogmas, they will be found to be identical for the primitive truths of all three rest on one foundation, the Archaic Wisdom Religion. Kapila, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Plato, Basilides, Marcian, Ammonius and Plotinus, founded schools and sowed the germs of many a noble thought and, disappearing, left behind them the refulgence of demi-gods. As Mussulmans will not admit that their Koran is built on the substratum of the Jewish Bible, so the Christians will not confess that they owe next to everything to the Hindu religions. The most praiseworthy Christians are modified Buddhists, though probably not one of them ever heard of Prince Siddhartha. Cruelty and mercy are finite feelings. But the Supreme Deity is infinite, hence it can only be Just, and Justice must be blind. The doctrine of Vicarious Atonement is one of the most demoralizing of doctrines. Even the faintest glimmering sense of Justice revolts against such a pernicious dogma of atonement by proxy and salvation by prayer. The effects of a cause are never limited to the boundaries of the cause, nor can the results of crime be confined to the offender and his victim. The action may be instantaneous, the effects are eternal.