Qabalah – Mystical Yoga of the Western World - Part 3

The diagram of the Tree of Life is a Map of the Universe. It represents every force and factor in the manifested universe and the soul of man.  It give correlation of these two with each other. It puts them diagrammatically so that the relative positions of each unit can be clearly understood and the relations between them established. Tree of Life is a compendium of science, philosophy, psychology and theology.

The way of learning of the student of Natural Science and that of the student of Qabalah is diametrically opposite. The former builds up synthetic concepts. The latter analyses abstract concepts. Yes, it is true that before we understand the abstract concepts, there has to be someone who does the job of analysis and the synthesis. It is believed by the Rabbis that this job was done by the early Qabalist who were Angels. Beings of another order of creation other than humanity gave Qabalah to Chosen People.

Qabalist formulates a concrete symbol perceptible to the naked eye and lets it represent the abstract reality that only a trained human mind can grasp. Symbols are like the terms in the algebraic equations. These are used in almost all the religions of the world as objects of meditation. We have God-forms in the Egyptian system, Phallic symbols in some faiths, Cross in Christendom and so on. Uninitiated persons use these symbols as a means of concentrating the mind. They then introduce into it certain thoughts, calling up certain associated ideas. They stimulate certain feelings. This is not so with the initiate. He use the symbol-system in a different way. He use it as a  term in algebra. By means of this method, he attempts to read the secrets of unknown potencies. The initiate uses the symbol as a means of venturing into the Unseen and Incomprehensible.

The symbol which initiate uses is a composite symbol. Tree of Life is such a composite symbol. When the initiate meditates on the Tree of Life, he discovers that there are definite relations between its individual parts. Some of these parts he may know something. Some others he intuits the meaning or makes a guess or the reasoning from what he knows. The minds leaps from one known to another known. Metaphorically speaking, in so doing it traverses certain distances.  It is like a traveler in a desert. He may know the location of two landmarks. He then makes a forced march between them. He would not have dared to do this had he not known the location of each of these two landmarks. In the process of his journey, he not only reaches from point A to point B, he also gets himself acquainted with the land in between these two points. In such repeated journeys, the traveler explores much of the desert.

The Quabilistic system of notation follows a similar method. The mysteries it reveals are unthinkable. Even so, the mind, tracking from symbol to symbol, like our example of a traveler in the desert, gets to know something about them. By such continuous process of meditating on a thing, the concept of it is realized. Just as words are necessary to express thought, in a similar manner, symbols help us to convey and understand the intuition. Symbols precede the elucidatin. Therefore Qabalah is a growing and living system. It is not a historic dead monument. It naturally follows that we can get much more from the Qabalistic symbols today than there was at the time of the old dispensation. This is because of the fact that today our mental content is more richer in ideas than the ancient times.

Sephirah Yesod has the forces of growth and reproduction. The understanding of it for a biologist of modern world is much more than the rabbi of ancient world. Everything that has to do with growth and reproduction is resumed in the Sphere of the Moon. This Sphere on the Tree of Life is set about with Paths leading to other Sephiroth. The biological Qabalist can deduce certain definite relationship between the forces subsumed in Yesod and those represented by the symbols assigned these Paths. When he meditates on these symbols, he gets to understand the relationships. This is not possible when only the material aspect of things is considered. When he begins to practically work out these ideas in the material of his studies, he realizes that there are hidden therein some important clues. In a similar manner, on the Tree of Life, one things leads to another. The secret meaning of hidden causes is revealed out of the proportions and relations of the various individual symbols which constitute this mighty synthetic glyph.

Qabalah – Mystical Yoga of the Western World - Part 2

Qabalah – Mystical Yoga of the Western World

Part 2

The weakening of the power of the Church after fifteenth century encouraged the men in the know to write down the conventional Wisdom of Israel. Qabalah was considered to be of origin in the medieval origin because we did not have anything written about it in earlier period. However if we consider the way of working of the esoteric fraternities, it will not be difficult to understand that a whole cosmogony and psychology can be conveyed in a Glymph which has revealed all the secrets of the mysteries to the initiates. At the same time, for uninitiated, it does not mean anything. It is quite possible to get these strange old charts being handed down over several generations with only verbal communication of their secret meaning being given to the few initiates. Whenever any doubt arises about the meaning of any obscure word or phrase or ritual, the meditation on the glyph would inwardly reveal all the secrets. The meditations done by several generations had ensouled in the glyph its live entity which is accessible to the succeeding generation in the similar way. It is a well known esoteric secret to mystics that even if a man has not been expressly educated by his predecessors through oral tradition, he can still access to the esoteric secret by meditating on the glyph. This is because of the cumulative effect accrued over several generations of meditations on the glyph.

The organised Church destroyed all its rival forces from the field. All its traces were eliminated. During the Dark Ages, all the seeds of the mystical tradition which sprang up were brutally destroyed. However mysticism is inherent in the human race. The destruction by Church of all the roots of the tradition from the Group-Soul could not prevent the devout spirits within her fold to rediscover the technique of the soul’s approach to god. It developed a characteristic Yoga of their own. It is closely similar to the Bhakti Yoga of the East.

The literature of Catholicism is rich in treatises on mystical theology. They reveal practical acquaintance with the higher states of consciousness. This is done through a somewhat naïve conception of the psychology of these states of consciousness. It only revealed the poverty of a system which could not benefit from the experience of the tradition.

Catholic Church has much of its system based on the Bhakti Yoga – Devotional aspect of God realization. It is suitable for only a particular type of people whose temperament is naturally inclined towards devotion. These people find their readiest expression in loving self-sacrifice. However, it is not suitable to those who do not have devotional disposition. Unfortunately, Christianity does not have any scope for other ways to reach god. In the East, there are developed many Paths to God as per the inclination of the aspirant. All the Paths are accepted. Not so in Christianity.

Qabalah – Mystical Yoga of the Western World - Part 1

Qabalah is the mystical yoga of the Western World. It is Wisdom of Israel. Judaism was the source of the Western spiritual culture. Jesus and Paul were originally Jews. Mysticism of Israel is the foundation of modern European occultism. It is the theoretical basis of the ceremonial aspects of occultism. The Glyph – the Tree of Life is an excellent meditation symbol. It is most comprehensive of the meaning. For getting any true value from Qabalah in the present day circumstances, we need to re-interpret the doctrine and re-formulate its method in the light of the present dispensation.

There are many tributaries to the original stream of Hebraic Mysticism. There are its traces in the nomad star-worshippers of Chaldea. Abraham hears the voice of God with his people in his tent. There has been interchanges for several generations between the princes of Israel and the priest-kings of Egypt. Famous Tyrian Mysteries have very profound influence on Hebrew esotericism. The example of Daniel being educated in the palaces of Babylon very clearly shows that wisdom of the Magi has its influence on the Hebrew illuminati.

The ancient mystical tradition of the Hebrews had three literatures

       Books of the Law and the Prophets which is popularly known as the Old Testament

       The Talmud which is nothing but a collection of learned commentaries on the books of the Law and the Prophets

       Qabalah, which is actually the mystical interpretation of the Books of the Law and the Prophets.

Books of the Law is composed of tradition. Talmud is its rational soul. Qabalah is its immortal spirit. Ignorant men read only the first. Learned men study the Talmud. Wise men meditate upon the Qabalah. Somehow the Christian  critical study has missed the keys to the Old Testament in the Qabalah. During the time of Jesus, there were three schools of religious thought in Palestine. They were Pharisees, Sadducees and Qabalah. Gospels frequently refer to the Pharisees and Sadducees. As per the esoteric tradition, the boy Jesus, son of Joseph was spotted by the learned doctors of Law when he spoke in the Temple at the age of twelve. He was then sent to the Essenian community near the Dead Sea. He was trained in the mystical tradition of Israel at the Essenian community. Then he came to John for getting baptized in the Jordon. At the age of thirty, he started his mission. It is interesting to note that the closing part of the Lord’s Prayer is pure Qabalism. The basal triangle of the Tree of Life is formed by the Malkuth (Kingdom), Hod (Power, Majesty, Splendor) and Netzach (Perpetuity, Victory, Glory). The central points are Yesod (the Foundation) or the Receptacle of Influences. It is certain that the person who formulated that prayer very well knew his Qabalah.

The Esoteric roots of Christianity can be found in the Gnosis. It owed much of its sources to Greek and the Egyptian thought. We can see that the system of Pythagoras is an adaptation of the Qabalistic principles into the Greek mysticism. On the other hand, the exoteric state organised aspect of the Christian Church persecuted and rooted out the esoteric tradition. It brutally destroyed every trace of its literature which has any even remote connection to the Gnosis. It is a recorded history that the baths and bakeries of Alexandria got their fuel for six months with the manuscripts from the great library. Very little has survived of the spiritual heritage in the ancient wisdom from esoteric traditions.