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Buddha (500BC)
Buddha - Siddhartha Gautama
(about 623 BC to 543 BC )
"Three things, O disciples, shine before the world and cannot
be hidden. What are the three? The moon, O disciples, illumines the world and
cannot be hidden; the sun, O disciples, illumines the world and cannot be
hidden; and the truth proclaimed by the Tathagata illumines the world and cannot
be hidden. These three things, O disciples, illumine the world and cannot be
hidden. There is no secrecy about them."
[...]
"...There is rebirth of character, but no
transmigration of a self. Thy thought-forms reappear, but there is
no ego-entity transferred. The stanza uttered by a teacher is reborn
in the scholar who repeats the words.
Only through ignorance and delusion do men indulge in the dream that
their souls are separate and self-existent entities. Thy heart, O
Brahman, is cleaving still to self; thou art anxious about heaven
but thou seekest the pleasures of self in heaven, and thus thou
canst not see the bliss of truth and the immortality of truth."
[...]
Hence, the purpose of the Holy Life does not consist in
acquiring
alms, honor, or fame, nor in gaining morality, concentration, or the
eye of knowledge. That unshakable deliverance of the heart: that,
verily, is the object of the Holy Life, that is its essence, that is
its goal.
And those, who formerly, in the past, were Holy and Enlightened
Ones, those Blessed Ones also have pointed out to their disciples
this
self-same goal, as has been pointed out by me to my disciples. And
those, who afterwards, in the future, will be Holy and Enlightened
Ones, those Blessed Ones also will point out to their disciples this
self-same goal, as has been pointed out by me to my disciples.
However, Disciples, it may be that (after my passing away) you
might think: "Gone is the doctrine of our Master. We have no
Master
more." But you should not think; for the Law and the
Discipline, which
I have taught you, Will, after my death, be your master.
The Law be your light,
The Law be your refuge!
Do not look for any other refuge!
Disciples, the doctrines, which I advised you to
penetrate, you
should well preserve, well guard, so that this Holy Life may take
its course and continue for ages, for the weal and welfare of the
many, as a consolation to the world, for the happiness, weal and
welfare of heavenly beings and men.
Buddha
Read more: The
Gospel of Buddha, According to Old Records
Read more: BUDDHA,
THE WORD
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[...] More Coming Soon
Jesus Christ
"No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or
puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those
who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will
not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or
brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you
listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even
what he thinks he has will be taken from him."
The Bible, Luke 8:16-18
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through
him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been
made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light
shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
The Bible, John 1: 1-5
[...]
Muhammed (610 C.E.)
The Qur'an is the primary text of Islam, revealed to the Prophet Muhammed
beginning in the year 610 C.E..
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Plato 360 B.C.
Greek philosopher Plato
(427 BC – 347 BC)
Plato, The Republic
[...] philosophical minds always love knowledge of a sort which
shows them the eternal nature not varying from generation and corruption.
Plato, The Republic
Plato, The Republic
Let us make an image of the soul, that may have his own words
presented before his eyes.
Of what sort?
An ideal image of the soul, like the composite creations of
ancient mythology, such as the Chimera or Scylla or Cerberus, and
there are many others in which two or more different natures are
said to grow into one.
There are said of have been such unions.
Then do you now model the form of a multitudinous, many-headed
monster, having a ring of heads of all manner of beasts, tame and
wild, which he is able to generate and metamorphose at will.
You suppose marvellous powers in the artist; but, as language
is more pliable than wax or any similar substance, let there be
such a model as you propose.
Suppose now that you make a second form as of a lion, and a
third of a man, the second smaller than the first, and the third
smaller than the second.
That, he said, is an easier task; and I have made them as you
say.
And now join them, and let the three grow into one.
That has been accomplished.
Next fashion the outside of them into a single image, as of a
man, so that he who is not able to look within, and sees only the
outer hull, may believe the beast to be a single human creature. I
have done so, he said.
And now, to him who maintains that it is profitable for the human
creature to be unjust, and unprofitable to be just, let us reply
that, if he be right, it is profitable for this creature to feast
the multitudinous monster and strengthen the lion and the lion-like
qualities, but to starve and weaken the man, who is consequently
liable to be dragged about at the mercy of either of the other two;
and he is not to attempt to familiarize or harmonize them with one
another-- he ought rather to suffer them to fight and bite and
devour one another.
Plato, The Republic
Related Link: Sphinx Mystery Explained
Plato, The Seventh Letter
For the man who has heard this, if he has the true
philosophic spirit and that godlike temperament which makes him a kin to
philosophy and worthy of it, thinks that he has been told of a marvellous road
lying before him, that he must forthwith press on with all his strength, and
that life is not worth living if he does anything else. After this he uses to
the full his own powers and those of his guide in the path, and relaxes not his
efforts, till he has either reached the end of the whole course of study or
gained such power that he is not incapable of directing his steps without the
aid of a guide. This is the spirit and these are the thoughts by which such a
man guides his life, carrying out his work, whatever his occupation may be, but
throughout it all ever cleaving to philosophy and to such rules of diet in his
daily life as will give him inward sobriety and therewith quickness in learning,
a good memory, and reasoning power; the kind of life which is opposed to this he
consistently hates. Those who have not the true philosophic temper, but a mere
surface colouring of opinions penetrating, like sunburn, only skin deep, when
they see how great the range of studies is, how much labour is involved in it,
and how necessary to the pursuit it is to have an orderly regulation of the
daily life, come to the conclusion that the thing is difficult and impossible
for them, and are actually incapable of carrying out the course of study; while
some of them persuade themselves that they have sufficiently studied the whole
matter and have no need of any further effort. This is the sure test and is the
safest one to apply to those who live in luxury and are incapable of continuous
effort; it ensures that such a man shall not throw the blame upon his teacher
but on himself, because he cannot bring to the pursuit all the qualities
necessary to it.
[...]
I know indeed that others
have written on the same subjects; but who they are, is more than they know
themselves. Thus much at least, I can say about all writers, past or future, who
say they know the things to which I devote myself, whether by hearing the
teaching of me or of others, or by their own discoveries-that according to my
view it is not possible for them to have any real skill in the matter. There
neither is nor ever will be a treatise of mine on the subject. For it does not
admit of exposition like other branches of knowledge; but after much converse
about the matter itself and a life lived together, suddenly a light, as it were,
is kindled in one soul by a flame that leaps to it from another, and thereafter
sustains itself. Yet this much I know-that if the things were written or put
into words, it would be done best by me, and that, if they were written badly, I
should be the person most pained. Again, if they had appeared to me to admit
adequately of writing and exposition, what task in life could I have performed
nobler than this, to write what is of great service to mankind and to bring the
nature of things into the light for all to see? But I do not think it a good
thing for men that there should be a disquisition, as it is called, on this
topic-except for some few, who are able with a little teaching to find it out
for themselves. As for the rest, it would fill some of them quite illogically
with a mistaken feeling of contempt, and others with lofty and vain-glorious
expectations, as though they had learnt something high and mighty.
On this point I intend to speak a little more at length; for perhaps, when I
have done so, things will be clearer with regard to my present subject. There is
an argument which holds good against the man ventures to put anything whatever
into writing on questions of this nature; it has often before been stated by me,
and it seems suitable to the present occasion.
For everything that exists there are three instruments by which the knowledge
of it is necessarily imparted; fourth, there is the knowledge itself, and, as
fifth, we must count the thing itself which is known and truly exists. The first
is the name, the, second the definition, the third. the image, and the fourth
the knowledge. If you wish to learn what I mean, take these in the case of one
instance, and so understand them in the case of all. A circle is a thing spoken
of, and its name is that very word which we have just uttered. The second thing
belonging to it is its definition, made up names and verbal forms. For that
which has the name "round," "annular," or,
"circle," might be defined as that which has the distance from its
circumference to its centre everywhere equal. Third, comes that which is drawn
and rubbed out again, or turned on a lathe and broken up-none of which things
can happen to the circle itself-to which the other things, mentioned have
reference; for it is something of a different order from them. Fourth, comes
knowledge, intelligence and right opinion about these things. Under this one
head we must group everything which has its existence, not in words nor in
bodily shapes, but in souls-from which it is dear that it is something different
from the nature of the circle itself and from the three things mentioned before.
Of these things intelligence comes closest in kinship and likeness to the fifth,
and the others are farther distant.
The same applies to straight as well as to circular form, to colours, to the
good, the, beautiful, the just, to all bodies whether manufactured or coming
into being in the course of nature, to fire, water, and all such things, to
every living being, to character in souls, and to all things done and suffered.
For in the case of all these, no one, if he has not some how or other got hold
of the four things first mentioned, can ever be completely a partaker of
knowledge of the fifth. Further, on account of the weakness of language, these
(i.e., the four) attempt to show what each thing is like, not less than what
each thing is. For this reason no man of intelligence will venture to express
his philosophical views in language, especially not in language that is
unchangeable, which is true of that which is set down in written characters.
Again you must learn the point which comes next. Every circle, of those which
are by the act of man drawn or even turned on a lathe, is full of that which is
opposite to the fifth thing. For everywhere it has contact with the straight.
But the circle itself, we say, has nothing in either smaller or greater, of that
which is its opposite. We say also that the name is not a thing of permanence
for any of them, and that nothing prevents the things now called round from
being called straight, and the straight things round; for those who make changes
and call things by opposite names, nothing will be less permanent (than a name).
Again with regard to the definition, if it is made up of names and verbal forms,
the same remark holds that there is no sufficiently durable permanence in it.
And there is no end to the instances of the ambiguity from which each of the
four suffers; but the greatest of them is that which we mentioned a little
earlier, that, whereas there are two things, that which has real being, and that
which is only a quality, when the soul is seeking to know, not the quality, but
the essence, each of the four, presenting to the soul by word and in act that
which it is not seeking (i.e., the quality), a thing open to refutation by the
senses, being merely the thing presented to the soul in each particular case
whether by statement or the act of showing, fills, one may say, every man with
puzzlement and perplexity.
Now in subjects in which, by reason of our defective education, we have not
been accustomed even to search for the truth, but are satisfied with whatever
images are presented to us, we are not held up to ridicule by one another, the
questioned by questioners, who can pull to pieces and criticise the four things.
But in subjects where we try to compel a man to give a clear answer about the
fifth, any one of those who are capable of overthrowing an antagonist gets the
better of us, and makes the man, who gives an exposition in speech or writing or
in replies to questions, appear to most of his hearers to know nothing of the
things on which he is attempting to write or speak; for they are sometimes not
aware that it is not the mind of the writer or speaker which is proved to be at
fault, but the defective nature of each of the four instruments. The process
however of dealing with all of these, as the mind moves up and down to each in
turn, does after much effort give birth in a well-constituted mind to knowledge
of that which is well constituted. But if a man is ill-constituted by nature (as
the state of the soul is naturally in the majority both in its capacity for
learning and in what is called moral character)-or it may have become so by
deterioration-not even Lynceus could endow such men with the power of sight.
In one word, the man who has no natural kinship with this matter cannot be
made akin to it by quickness of learning or memory; for it cannot be engendered
at all in natures which are foreign to it. Therefore, if men are not by nature
kinship allied to justice and all other things that are honourable, though they
may be good at learning and remembering other knowledge of various kinds-or if
they have the kinship but are slow learners and have no memory-none of all these
will ever learn to the full the truth about virtue and vice. For both must be
learnt together; and together also must be learnt, by complete and long
continued study, as I said at the beginning, the true and the false about all
that has real being. After much effort, as names, definitions, sights, and other
data of sense, are brought into contact and friction one with another, in the
course of scrutiny and kindly testing by men who proceed by question and answer
without ill will, with a sudden flash there shines forth understanding about
every problem, and an intelligence whose efforts reach the furthest limits of
human powers. Therefore every man of worth, when dealing with matters of worth,
will be far from exposing them to ill feeling and misunderstanding among men by
committing them to writing. In one word, then, it may be known from this that,
if one sees written treatises composed by anyone, either the laws of a lawgiver,
or in any other form whatever, these are not for that man the things of most
worth, if he is a man of worth, but that his treasures are laid up in the
fairest spot that he possesses. But if these things were worked at by him as
things of real worth, and committed to writing, then surely, not gods, but men
"have themselves bereft him of his wits."
Plato, The Seventh Letter
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Plato, The Republic
[...] they came to a place where they could see from
above a line of light, straight as a column, extending right through
the whole heaven and through the earth, in colour resembling the
rainbow, only brighter and purer; another day's journey brought them
to the place, and there, in the midst of the light, they saw the
ends of the chains of heaven let down from above: for this light is
the belt of heaven, and holds together the circle of the universe,
like the under-girders of a trireme. From these ends is extended the
spindle of Necessity, on which all the revolutions turn. The shaft
and hook of this spindle are made of steel, and the whorl is made
partly of steel and also partly of other materials. Now the whorl is
in form like the whorl used on earth; and the description of it
implied that there is one large hollow whorl which is quite scooped
out, and into this is fitted another lesser one, and another, and
another, and four others, making eight in all, like vessels which
fit into one another; the whorls show their edges on the upper side,
and on their lower side all together form one continuous whorl. This
is pierced by the spindle, which is driven home through the centre
of the eighth. The first and outermost whorl has the rim broadest,
and the seven inner whorls are narrower, in the following
proportions-- the sixth is next to the first in size, the fourth
next to the sixth; then comes the eighth; the seventh is fifth, the
fifth is sixth, the third is seventh, last and eighth comes the
second. The largest (of fixed stars) is spangled, and the seventh
(or sun) is brightest; the eighth (or moon) coloured by the
reflected light of the seventh; the second and fifth (Saturn and
Mercury) are in colour like one another, and yellower than the
preceding; the third (Venus) has the whitest light; the fourth
(Mars) is reddish; the sixth (Jupiter) is in whiteness second. Now
the whole spindle has the same motion; but, as the whole revolves in
one direction, the seven inner circles move slowly in the other, and
of these the swiftest is the eighth; next in swiftness are the
seventh, sixth, and fifth, which move together; third in swiftness
appeared to move according to the law of this reversed motion the
fourth; the third appeared fourth and the second fifth. The spindle
turns on the knees of Necessity; and on the upper surface of each
circle is a siren, who goes round with them, hymning a single tone
or note. The eight together form one harmony; and round about, at
equal intervals, there is another band, three in number, each
sitting upon her throne: these are the Fates, daughters of
Necessity, who are clothed in white robes and have chaplets upon
their heads, Lachesis and Clotho and Atropos, who accompany with
their voices the harmony of the sirens-- Lachesis singing of the
past, Clotho of the present, Atropos of the future; Clotho from time
to time assisting with a touch of her right hand the revolution of
the outer circle of the whorl or spindle, and Atropos with her left
hand touching and guiding the inner ones, and Lachesis laying hold
of either in turn, first with one hand and then with the other.
Plato, The Republic
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Plato, The Republic
AND now, I said, let
me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or
unenlightened:--Behold! human beings living in a underground den,
which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the
den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs
and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before
them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads.
Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between
the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see,
if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which
marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the
puppets.
I see.
And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying all
sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood
and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of
them are talking, others silent.
You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange
prisoners.
Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows,
or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite
wall of the cave?
True, he said; how could they see anything but the shadows if
they were never allowed to move their heads?
And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they
would only see the shadows?
Yes, he said.
And if they were able to converse with one another, would they
not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?
Very true.
And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from
the other side, would they not be sure to fancy when one of the
passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from the
passing shadow?
No question, he replied.
To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the
shadows of the images.
That is certain.
And now look again, and see what will naturally follow it' the
prisoners are released and disabused of their error.
At first, when any of them
is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck
round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp
pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the
realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and
then conceive some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an
illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and
his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer
vision, -what will be his reply? And you may further imagine that
his instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass and requiring
him to name them, -will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that
the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which
are now shown to him?
Far truer.
And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he
not have a pain in his eyes which will make him turn away to take
and take in the objects of vision which he can see, and which he
will conceive to be in reality clearer than the things which are now
being shown to him?
True, he now
And suppose once more, that he is reluctantly dragged up a
steep and rugged ascent, and held fast until he's forced into the
presence of the sun himself, is he not likely to be pained and
irritated? When he approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled,
and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now
called realities.
Not all in a moment, he said.
He will require to
grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world. And first he will
see the shadows best, next the reflections of men and other objects
in the water, and then the objects themselves; then he will gaze
upon the light of the moon and the stars and the spangled heaven;
and he will see the sky and the stars by night better than the sun
or the light of the sun by day?
Certainly.
Last of he will be
able to see the sun, and not mere reflections of him in the water,
but he will see him in his own proper place, and not in another; and
he will contemplate him as he is.
Certainly.
He will then proceed
to argue that this is he who gives the season and the years, and is
the guardian of all that is in the visible world, and in a certain
way the cause of all things which he and his fellows have been
accustomed to behold?
Clearly, he said, he would first see the sun and then reason
about him.
And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of
the den and his fellow-prisoners, do you not suppose that he would
felicitate himself on the change, and pity them?
Certainly, he would.
And if they were in the habit of conferring honours among
themselves on those who were quickest to observe the passing shadows
and to remark which of them went before, and which followed after,
and which were together; and who were therefore best able to draw
conclusions as to the future, do you think that he would care for
such honours and glories, or envy the possessors of them? Would
he not say with Homer,
Better to be the poor servant of a poor master, and to endure
anything, rather than think as they do and live after their manner?
Yes, he said, I think that he would rather suffer anything than
entertain these false notions and live in this miserable manner.
Imagine once more, I said, such an one coming suddenly out of
the sun to be replaced in his old situation; would he not be certain
to have his eyes full of darkness?
To be sure, he said.
And if there were a contest, and he had to compete in
measuring the shadows with the prisoners who had never moved out of
the den, while his sight was still weak, and before his eyes had
become steady (and the time which would be needed to acquire this
new habit of sight might be very considerable) would he not be
ridiculous? Men would say of him that up he went and down he came
without his eyes; and that it was better not even to think of
ascending; and if any one tried to loose another and lead him up to
the light, let them only catch the offender, and they would put him
to death.
No question, he said.
This entire allegory, I said, you may now append, dear Glaucon,
to the previous argument; the prison-house is the world of sight,
the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me
if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul
into the intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at
your desire, I have expressed whether rightly or wrongly God knows. But,
whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge
the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an
effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author
of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord
of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason
and truth in the intellectual; and that this is the power upon which
he who would act rationally, either in public or private life must
have his eye fixed.
I agree, he said, as far as I am able to understand you.
Moreover, I said, you
must not wonder that those who attain to this beatific vision are
unwilling to descend to human affairs; for their souls are ever
hastening into the upper world where they desire to dwell; which
desire of theirs is very natural, if our allegory may be trusted.
Yes, very natural.
And is there anything surprising in one who passes from divine
contemplations to the evil state of man, misbehaving himself in a
ridiculous manner; if, while his eyes are blinking and before he has
become accustomed to the surrounding darkness, he is compelled to
fight in courts of law, or in other places, about the images or the
shadows of images of justice, and is endeavouring to meet the
conceptions of those who have never yet seen absolute justice?
Anything but surprising, he replied.
Any one who has common
sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two
kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the
light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye,
quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when
he sees any one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too
ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of man has come
out of the brighter light, and is unable to see because unaccustomed
to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by
excess of light. And he will count the one happy in his condition
and state of being, and he will pity the other; or, if he have a
mind to laugh at the soul which comes from below into the light,
there will be more reason in this than in the laugh which greets him
who returns from above out of the light into the den.
That, he said, is a very just distinction.
But then, if I am
right, certain professors of education must be wrong when they say
that they can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there
before, like sight into blind eyes.
They undoubtedly say this, he replied.
Whereas, our argument
shows that the power and capacity of learning exists in the soul
already; and that just as the eye was unable to turn from darkness
to light without the whole body, so too the instrument of knowledge
can only by the movement of the whole soul be turned from the world
of becoming into that of being, and learn by degrees to endure the
sight of being, and of the brightest and best of being, or in other
words, of the good.
[...]
And so, Glaucon, I
said, we have at last arrived at the hymn of dialectic. This is that
strain which is of the intellect only, but which the faculty of
sight will nevertheless be found to imitate; for sight, as you may
remember, was imagined by us after a while to behold the real
animals and stars, and last of all the sun himself. And so with
dialectic; when a person starts on the discovery of the absolute by
the light of reason only, and without any assistance of sense, and
perseveres until by pure intelligence he arrives at the perception
of the absolute good, he at last finds himself at the end of the
intellectual world, as in the case of sight at the end of the
visible.
Exactly, he said.
Then this is the progress which you call dialectic?
True.
But the release of the
prisoners from chains, and their translation from the shadows to the
images and to the light, and the ascent from the underground den to
the sun, while in his presence they are vainly trying to look on
animals and plants and the light of the sun, but are able to
perceive even with their weak eyes the images in the water (which
are divine), and are the shadows of true existence (not shadows of
images cast by a light of fire, which compared with the sun is only
an image)--this power of elevating the highest principle in the soul
to the contemplation of that which is best in existence, with which
we may compare the raising of that faculty which is the very light
of the body to the sight of that which is brightest in the material
and visible world--this power is given, as I was saying, by all that
study and pursuit of the arts which has been described.
I agree in what you are saying, he replied, which may be hard to
believe, yet, from another point of view, is harder still to deny.
This, however, is not a theme to be treated of in passing only, but
will have to be discussed again and again. And so, whether our
conclusion be true or false, let us assume all this, and proceed at
once from the prelude or preamble to the chief strain, and describe
that in like manner. Say, then, what is the nature and what are the
divisions of dialectic, and what are the paths which lead thither;
for these paths will also lead to our final rest?
Dear Glaucon, I said, you will not be able to follow me here,
though I would do my best, and you should behold not an image only
but the absolute truth, according to my notion. Whether what I told
you would or would not have been a reality I cannot venture to say;
but you would have seen something like reality; of that I am
confident.
Doubtless, he replied.
But I must also remind you, that the power of dialectic alone can
reveal this, and only to one who is a disciple of the previous
sciences.
Of that assertion you may be as confident as of the last.
And assuredly no one will argue that there is any other method of
comprehending by any regular process all true existence or of
ascertaining what each thing is in its own nature; for the arts in
general are concerned with the desires or opinions of men, or are
cultivated with a view to production and construction, or for the
preservation of such productions and constructions; and as to the
mathematical sciences which, as we were saying, have some
apprehension of true being--geometry and the like-- they only dream
about being, but never can they behold the waking reality so long as
they leave the hypotheses which they use unexamined, and are unable
to give an account of them. For when a man knows not his own first
principle, and when the conclusion and intermediate steps are also
constructed out of he knows not what, how can he imagine that such a
fabric of convention can ever become science?
Impossible, he said.
Then dialectic, and dialectic alone, goes directly to the
first principle and is the only science which does away with
hypotheses in order to make her ground secure; the eye of the soul,
which is literally buried in an outlandish slough, is by her gentle
aid lifted upwards; and she uses as handmaids and helpers in the
work of conversion, the sciences which we have been discussing.
Custom terms them sciences, but they ought to have some other name,
implying greater clearness than opinion and less clearness than
science: and this, in our previous sketch, was called understanding.
But why should we dispute about names when we have realities of such
importance to consider?
[...]
Plato, The Republic, Book VII - SOCRATES -
GLAUCON
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METAMORPHOSES
by Ovid (born 43 B.C.)
Before the seas, and this terrestrial ball,
the World And Heav'n's high canopy, that covers all,
One was the face of Nature; if a face:
Rather a rude and indigested mass:
A lifeless lump, unfashion'd, and unfram'd,
Of jarring seeds; and justly Chaos nam'd.
No sun was lighted up, the world to view;
No moon did yet her blunted horns renew:
Nor yet was Earth suspended in the sky,
Nor pois'd, did on her own foundations lye:
Nor seas about the shores their arms had thrown;
But earth, and air, and water, were in one.
Thus air was void of light, and earth unstable,
And water's dark abyss unnavigable.
No certain form on any was imprest;
All were confus'd, and each disturb'd the rest.
For hot and cold were in one body fixt;
And soft with hard, and light with heavy mixt.
But God, or Nature, while they thus contend,
To these intestine discords put an end:
Then earth from air, and seas from earth were
driv'n,
And grosser air sunk from aetherial Heav'n.
Thus disembroil'd, they take their proper place;
The next of kin, contiguously embrace;
And foes are sunder'd, by a larger space.
The force of fire ascended first on high,
And took its dwelling in the vaulted sky:
Then air succeeds, in lightness next to fire;
Whose atoms from unactive earth retire.
Earth sinks beneath, and draws a num'rous throng
Of pondrous, thick, unwieldy seeds along.
About her coasts, unruly waters roar;
And rising, on a ridge, insult the shore.
Thus when the God, whatever God was he,
Had form'd the whole, and made the parts agree,
That no unequal portions might be found,
He moulded Earth into a spacious round:
Then with a breath, he gave the winds to blow;
And bad the congregated waters flow.
He adds the running springs, and standing lakes;
And bounding banks for winding rivers makes.
Some part, in Earth are swallow'd up, the most
In ample oceans, disembogu'd, are lost.
He shades the woods, the vallies he restrains
With rocky mountains, and extends the plains.
And as five zones th' aetherial regions bind,
Five, correspondent, are to Earth assign'd:
The sun with rays, directly darting down,
Fires all beneath, and fries the middle zone:
The two beneath the distant poles, complain
Of endless winter, and perpetual rain.
Betwixt th' extreams, two happier climates hold
The temper that partakes of hot, and cold.
The fields of liquid air, inclosing all,
Surround the compass of this earthly ball:
The lighter parts lye next the fires above;
The grosser near the watry surface move:
Thick clouds are spread, and storms engender there,
And thunder's voice, which wretched mortals fear,
And winds that on their wings cold winter bear.
Nor were those blustring brethren left at large,
On seas, and shores, their fury to discharge:
Bound as they are, and circumscrib'd in place,
They rend the world, resistless, where they pass;
And mighty marks of mischief leave behind;
Such is the rage of their tempestuous kind.
First Eurus to the rising morn is sent
(The regions of the balmy continent);
And Eastern realms, where early Persians run,
To greet the blest appearance of the sun.
Westward, the wanton Zephyr wings his flight;
Pleas'd with the remnants of departing light:
Fierce Boreas, with his off-spring, issues forth
T' invade the frozen waggon of the North.
While frowning Auster seeks the Southern sphere;
And rots, with endless rain, th' unwholsom year.
High o'er the clouds, and empty realms of wind,
The God a clearer space for Heav'n design'd;
Where fields of light, and liquid aether flow;
Purg'd from the pondrous dregs of Earth below.
Scarce had the Pow'r distinguish'd these, when
streight
The stars, no longer overlaid with weight,
Exert their heads, from underneath the mass;
And upward shoot, and kindle as they pass,
And with diffusive light adorn their heav'nly
place.
Then, every void of Nature to supply,
With forms of Gods he fills the vacant sky:
New herds of beasts he sends, the plains to share:
New colonies of birds, to people air:
And to their oozy beds, the finny fish repair.
A creature of a more exalted kind
Was wanting yet, and then was Man design'd:
Conscious of thought, of more capacious breast,
For empire form'd, and fit to rule the rest:
Whether with particles of heav'nly fire
The God of Nature did his soul inspire,
Or Earth, but new divided from the sky,
And, pliant, still retain'd th' aetherial energy:
Which wise Prometheus temper'd into paste,
And, mixt with living streams, the godlike image
cast.
Thus, while the mute creation downward bend
Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend,
Man looks aloft; and with erected eyes
Beholds his own hereditary skies.
From such rude principles our form began;
And earth was metamorphos'd into Man.
[...]
From METAMORPHOSES
by Ovid
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ON THE NATURE OF THINGS
by Titus Lucretius Carus (50 BC)
Whilst human kind
Throughout the lands lay miserably crushed
Before all eyes beneath Religion- who
Would show her head along the region skies,
Glowering on mortals with her hideous face-
A Greek it was who first opposing dared
Raise mortal eyes that terror to withstand,
Whom nor the fame of Gods nor lightning's stroke
Nor threatening thunder of the ominous sky
Abashed; but rather chafed to angry zest
His dauntless heart to be the first to rend
The crossbars at the gates of Nature old.
And thus his will and hardy wisdom won;
And forward thus he fared afar, beyond
The flaming ramparts of the world, until
He wandered the unmeasurable All.
Whence he to us, a conqueror, reports
What things can rise to being, what cannot,
And by what law to each its scope prescribed,
Its boundary stone that clings so deep in Time.
Wherefore Religion now is under foot,
And us his victory now exalts to heaven.
I know how hard it is in Latian verse
To tell the dark discoveries of the Greeks,
Chiefly because our pauper-speech must find
Strange terms to fit the strangeness of the thing;
Yet worth of thine and the expected joy
Of thy sweet friendship do persuade me on
To bear all toil and wake the clear nights through,
Seeking with what of words and what of song
I may at last most gloriously uncloud
For thee the light beyond, wherewith to view
The core of being at the centre hid.
And for the rest, summon to judgments true,
Unbusied ears and singleness of mind
Withdrawn from cares; lest these my gifts, arranged
For thee with eager service, thou disdain
Before thou comprehendest: since for thee
I prove the supreme law of Gods and sky,
And the primordial germs of things unfold,
Whence Nature all creates, and multiplies
And fosters all, and whither she resolves
Each in the end when each is overthrown.
This ultimate stock we have devised to name
Procreant atoms, matter, seeds of things,
Or primal bodies, as primal to the world.
[...]
All nature, then, as self-sustained, consists
Of twain of things: of bodies and of void
In which they're set, and where they're moved around.
For common instinct of our race declares
That body of itself exists: unless
This primal faith, deep-founded, fail us not,
Naught will there be whereunto to appeal
On things occult when seeking aught to prove
By reasonings of mind. Again, without
That place and room, which we do call the inane,
Nowhere could bodies then be set, nor go
Hither or thither at all- as shown before.
Besides, there's naught of which thou canst declare
It lives disjoined from body, shut from void-
A kind of third in nature. For whatever
Exists must be a somewhat; and the same,
If tangible, however fight and slight,
Will yet increase the count of body's sum,
With its own augmentation big or small;
But, if intangible and powerless ever
To keep a thing from passing through itself
On any side, 'twill be naught else but that
Which we do call the empty, the inane.
Again, whate'er exists, as of itself,
Must either act or suffer action on it.
Or else be that wherein things move and be:
Naught, saving body, acts, is acted on;
Naught but the inane can furnish room. And thus,
Beside the inane and bodies, is no third
Nature amid the number of all things-
Remainder none to fall at any time
Under our senses, nor be seized and seen
By any man through reasonings of mind.
Name o'er creation with what names thou wilt,
Thou'lt find but properties of those first twain,
Or see but accidents those twain produce.
ON THE NATURE OF THINGS
by Titus Lucretius Carus
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[...] More material is coming soon
The Emerald Tablet of Hermes
-
Tis true without lying, certain & most true. That wch is below is like that wch is above &
that wch is above is like yt wch is below to do ye miracles of
one only thing.
-
And as all things have been & arose from one by
ye mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this
one thing by adaptation.
-
The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth
its nourse.
-
The father of all perfection in ye whole world is
here.
-
Its force or power is entire if it be converted
into earth. Seperate thou ye earth from ye fire, ye subtile from the
gross sweetly wth great indoustry.
-
It ascends from ye earth to ye heaven & again
it desends to ye earth and receives ye force of things superior
& inferior.
-
By this means you shall have ye glory of ye whole
world & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.
-
Its force is above all force. for it vanquishes
every subtile thing & penetrates every solid thing. So was ye world created.
-
From this are & do come admirable adaptaions
whereof ye means (Or process) is here in this.
-
Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the
three parts of ye philosophy of ye whole world.
-
That wch I have said of ye operation of ye Sun is
accomplished & ended.
Translation of Issac Newton c. 1680.
-
Trouth hath hym so, and it is no doubt, that the lover is to the heigher, and the heigher to the lower
aunsweren.
-
The worcher forsoth of all myracles is the one and sool God, of and
fro Whom Cometh all meruelous operacions.
-
So all thynges were created of o soole substance, and of o soole
disposicion,
the fader wherof is the sone, and the moone moder,
that brought hym forth by blast or aier in the wombe, the erthe
taken fro it,
to whom is seid the increat fader, tresour of myracles, and yever
of vertues.
-
Of fire is made erthe. Depart the erthe fro the fire, for the sotiller is worthier than
the more grosse, and the thynne thynge than the thik. This most be
do wisely and discretly.
-
It ascendith fro the erth into the heven, and falleth fro heven
to the erthe, and therof sleith the higher and the lower vertue.
-
And yf it lordship in the lower and in the heigher, and thow shalt
lordship aboue and beneth, which forsoth is the light of lightes,
and therfor fro the wolle fle all derknesse.
-
The higher vertue ouer-cometh all, for sothe all thynne thyng
doth in dense thynges.
-
After the disposicion of the more world rynneth this
worchyng.
-
And for this prophetisyng of the trynyte of God Hermogenes it
called Triplex, trebil in philosophie, as Aristotle seith.
Translation from Roger Bacon's edition of
Secretum Secretorum made c 1445
-
True, true, with no room for doubt, certain, worthy of all trust.
-
See, the highest comes from the lowest, and the lowest from the
highest;
indeed a marvelous work of the tao.
-
See how all things originated from It by a single process.
-
The father of it (the elixir) is the sun (Yang), its mother the
moon (Yin).
The wind bore it in its belly, and the earth nourished it.
-
This is the father of wondrous works (changes and
transformations), the guardian of mysteries, perfect in its powers, the animator of lights.
-
This fire will be poured upon the earth...
-
So separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross,
acting prudently and with art.
-
It ascends from the earth to the heavens (and orders the lights
above), then descends again to the earth; and in it is the power of
the highest and the lowest.
-
Thus when you have the light of lights darkness will flee away
from you.
-
With this power of powers (the elixir) you shall be able to get
the mastery of every subtle thing, and be able to penetrate
everything that is gross.
-
In this way was the great world itself formed.
-
Hence thus and thus marvellous operations will be acheived.
Hypothetical Chinese Original
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Hermes Trismegistus
From the Book: Hermetica - The Lost wisdom of the
Pharaohs
by Timothy Freke
Hermes speaks!
No one can be saved,
until he is born again.
If you want to be reborn,
purify yourself
of the irrational torments of matter.
The first of these is ignorance.
The second is grief.
Third is lack of self-control.
Fourth is desire.
Fifth is injustice.
Sixth is greed.
Seventh is deceit.
Eighth is envy.
Ninth is treachery.
Tenth is anger.
Eleventh is rashness.
Twelfth is malice.
Under these twelve are many more,
which force the man who is bound
to the prison of the body
to suffer from the torments they inflict.
But by Atum's mercy,
they may all depart
and be replaced by understanding.
This is the nature of rebirth.
This is the only road to reality.
It is the way our ancestors trod
to discover Primal Goodness.
It is sacred and divine,
but a hard highway for the soul
to travel in a body.
For the soul's first step
is to struggle against itself -
stirring up a civil war.
It is a feud of unity against duality.
The one seeking to unite
and the other seeking to divide.
He who is reborn
communes with the All-Father
who is Light and Life.
You will only experience this supreme vision
when you stop talking about it,
for this knowledge is deep silence
and tranquility of the senses.
He who knows
the beauty of Primal Goodness
perceives nothing else.
He doesn't listen to anything.
He cannot move his body at all.
He forgets all physical sensations
and is still,
while the beauty of Goodness
bathes his mind in Light
and draws his soul out of his body -
making him One with eternal Being.
For a man cannot become a god
whilst he believes he is a body.
To become divine
he must be transformed
by the beauty of Primal Goodness.
The womb of rebirth is wisdom.
The conception is silence.
The seed is Goodness.
Those born of this birth
are not the same.
They are of the gods
and children of Atum -the One-God.
They contain all.
They are in all.
They are not made up of matter.
They are All-Mind.
Rebirth is not a theory
that you can strive to learn.
But when Atum wills,
he will re-Mind you.
A man may only seek to know Atum
by controlling his passions
and letting Destiny deal as she wills
with his body,
which is no more than clay
that belongs to Nature and not to him.
He should not attempt
to improve his life by magic
or oppose his fate using force,
but allow Necessity to follow its course.
For the man of vision,
all things are good,
even if they appear evil to others.
When men devise mischief against him,
he sees it in the light
of his knowledge of Atum,
and he - and only he -
transforms evil into Goodness.
From the Book:
The
Hermetica: The Lost Wisdom of the Pharohs
by Timothy Freke
THE LAWS OF MANU
Manu was the legendary first man, the Adam of the
Hindus. This is a collection of laws attributed to Manu.
Source: Sacred Books of the East, Volume 25,
George Bühler, translator
CHAPTER I.
[...]
4. He, whose power is measureless, being thus asked by the
high-minded great sages, duly honoured them, and answered, 'Listen!'
5. This (universe) existed in the shape of Darkness, unperceived,
destitute of distinctive marks, unattainable by reasoning,
unknowable, wholly immersed, as it were, in deep sleep.
6. Then the divine Self-existent (Svayambhu, himself) indiscernible,
(but) making (all) this, the great elements and the rest,
discernible, appeared with irresistible (creative) power, dispelling
the darkness.
7. He who can be perceived by the internal organ (alone), who is
subtile, indiscernible, and eternal, who contains all created beings
and is inconceivable, shone forth of his own (will).
8. He, desiring to produce beings of many kinds from his own body,
first with a thought created the waters, and placed his seed in
them.
9. That (seed) became a golden egg, in brilliancy equal to the sun;
in that (egg) he himself was born as Brahman, the progenitor of the
whole world.
10. The waters are called narah, (for) the waters are, indeed, the
offspring of Nara; as they were his first residence (ayana), he
thence is named Narayana.
11. From that (first) cause, which is indiscernible, eternal, and
both real and unreal, was produced that male (Purusha), who is famed
in this world (under the appellation of) Brahman.
12. The divine one resided in that egg during a whole year, then he
himself by his thought (alone) divided it into two halves;
13. And out of those two halves he formed heaven and earth, between
them the middle sphere, the eight points of the horizon, and the
eternal abode of the waters.
14. From himself (atmanah) he also drew forth the mind, which is
both real and unreal, likewise from the mind egoism, which possesses
the function of self-consciousness (and is) lordly;
15. Moreover, the great one, the soul, and all (products) affected
by the three qualities, and, in their order, the five organs which
perceive the objects of sensation.
16. But, joining minute particles even of those six, which possess
measureless power, with particles of himself, he created all beings.
17. Because those six (kinds of) minute particles, which form the
(creator's) frame, enter (a-sri) these (creatures), therefore the
wise call his frame sarira, (the body.)
18. That the great elements enter, together with their functions and
the mind, through its minute parts the framer of all beings, the
imperishable one.
19. But from minute body (-framing) particles of these seven very
powerful Purushas springs this (world), the perishable from the
imperishable.
20. Among them each succeeding (element) acquires the quality of the
preceding one, and whatever place (in the sequence) each of them
occupies, even so many qualities it is declared to possess.
21. But in the beginning he assigned their several names, actions,
and conditions to all (created beings), even according to the words
of the Veda.
22. He, the Lord, also created the class of the gods, who are
endowed with life, and whose nature is action; and the subtile class
of the Sadhyas, and the eternal sacrifice.
23. But from fire, wind, and the sun he drew forth the threefold
eternal Veda, called Rik, Yagus, and Saman, for the due performance
of the sacrifice.
24. Time and the divisions of time, the lunar mansions and the
planets, the rivers, the oceans, the mountains, plains, and uneven
ground.
25. Austerity, speech, pleasure, desire, and anger, this whole
creation he likewise produced, as he desired to call these beings
into existence.
26. Moreover, in order to distinguish actions, he separated merit
from demerit, and he caused the creatures to be affected by the
pairs (of opposites), such as pain and pleasure.
27. But with the minute perishable particles of the five (elements)
which have been mentioned, this whole (world) is framed in due
order.
28. But to whatever course of action the Lord at first appointed
each (kind of beings), that alone it has spontaneously adopted in
each succeeding creation.
29. Whatever he assigned to each at the (first) creation,
noxiousness or harmlessness, gentleness or ferocity, virtue or sin,
truth or falsehood, that clung (afterwards) spontaneously to it.
30. As at the change of the seasons each season of its own accord
assumes its distinctive marks, even so corporeal beings (resume in
new births) their (appointed) course of action.
31. But for the sake of the prosperity of the worlds he caused the
Brahmana, the Kshatriya, the Vaisya, and the Sudra to proceed from
his mouth, his arms, his thighs, and his feet.
32. Dividing his own body, the Lord became half male and half
female; with that (female) he produced Virag.
33. But know me, O most holy among the twice-born, to be the creator
of this whole (world), whom that male, Virag, himself produced,
having performed austerities.
34. Then I, desiring to produce created beings, performed very
difficult austerities, and (thereby) called into existence ten great
sages, lords of created beings,
35. Mariki, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Praketas,
Vasishtha, Bhrigu, and Narada.
36. They created seven other Manus possessing great brilliancy, gods
and classes of gods and great sages of measureless power,
37. Yakshas (the servants of Kubera, the demons called) Rakshasas
and Pisakas, Gandharvas (or musicians of the gods), Apsarases (the
dancers of the gods), Asuras, (the snake-deities called) Nagas and
Sarpas, (the bird-deities called) Suparnas and the several classes
of the manes,
38. Lightnings, thunderbolts and clouds, imperfect (rohita) and
perfect rainbows, falling meteors, supernatural noises, comets, and
heavenly lights of many kinds,
39 (Horse-faced) Kinnaras, monkeys, fishes, birds of many kinds,
cattle, deer, men, and carnivorous beasts with two rows of teeth,
40. Small and large worms and beetles, moths, lice, flies, bugs, all
stinging and biting insects and the several kinds of immovable
things.
41. Thus was this whole (creation), both the immovable and the
movable, produced by those high-minded ones by means of austerities
and at my command, (each being) according to (the results of) its
actions.
42. But whatever act is stated (to belong) to (each of) those
creatures here below, that I will truly declare to you, as well as
their order in respect to birth.
43. Cattle, deer, carnivorous beasts with two rows of teeth,
Rakshasas, Pisakas, and men are born from the womb.
44. From eggs are born birds, snakes, crocodiles, fishes, tortoises,
as well as similar terrestrial and aquatic (animals).
45. From hot moisture spring stinging and biting insects, lice,
flies, bugs, and all other (creatures) of that kind which are
produced by heat.
46. All plants, propagated by seed or by slips, grow from shoots;
annual plants (are those) which, bearing many flowers and fruits,
perish after the ripening of their fruit;
47. (Those trees) which bear fruit without flowers are called
vanaspati (lords of the forest); but those which bear both flowers
and fruit are called vriksha.
48. But the various plants with many stalks, growing from one or
several roots, the different kinds of grasses, the climbing plants
and the creepers spring all from seed or from slips.
49. These (plants) which are surrounded by multiform Darkness, the
result of their acts (in former existences), possess internal
consciousness and experience pleasure and pain.
50. The (various) conditions in this always terrible and constantly
changing circle of births and deaths to which created beings are
subject, are stated to begin with (that of) Brahman, and to end with
(that of) these (just mentioned immovable creatures).
51. When he whose power is incomprehensible, had thus produced the
universe and men, he disappeared in himself, repeatedly suppressing
one period by means of the other.
52. When that divine one wakes, then this world stirs; when he
slumbers tranquilly, then the universe sinks to sleep.
53. But when he reposes in calm sleep, the corporeal beings whose
nature is action, desist from their actions and mind becomes inert.
54. When they are absorbed all at once in that great soul, then he
who is the soul of all beings sweetly slumbers, free from all care
and occupation.
55. When this (soul) has entered darkness, it remains for a long
time united with the organs (of sensation), but performs not its
functions; it then leaves the corporeal frame.
56. When, being clothed with minute particles (only), it enters into
vegetable or animal seed, it then assumes, united (with the fine
body), a (new) corporeal frame.
57. Thus he, the imperishable one, by (alternately) waking and
slumbering, incessantly revivifies and destroys this whole movable
and immovable (creation).
58. But he having composed these Institutes (of the sacred law),
himself taught them, according to the rule, to me alone in the
beginning; next I (taught them) to Mariki and the other sages.
59. Bhrigu, here, will fully recite to you these Institutes; for
that sage learned the whole in its entirety from me.
60. Then that great sage Bhrigu, being thus addressed by Manu,
spoke, pleased in his heart, to all the sages, 'Listen!'
61. Six other high-minded, very powerful Manus, who belong to the
race of this Manu, the descendant of the Self-existent (Svayambhu),
and who have severally produced created beings,
62. (Are) Svarokisha, Auttami, Tamasa, Raivata, Kakshusha,
possessing great lustre, and the son of Vivasvat.
63. These seven very glorious Manus, the first among whom is
Svayambhuva, produced and protected this whole movable and immovable
(creation), each during the period (allotted to him).
64. Eighteen nimeshas (twinklings of the eye, are one kashtha),
thirty kashthas one kala, thirty kalas one muhurta, and as many (muhurtas)
one day and night.
65. The sun divides days and nights, both human and divine, the
night (being intended) for the repose of created beings and the day
for exertion.
66. A month is a day and a night of the manes, but the division is
according to fortnights. The dark (fortnight) is their day for
active exertion, the bright (fortnight) their night for sleep.
67. A year is a day and a night of the gods; their division is (as
follows): the half year during which the sun progresses to the north
will be the day, that during which it goes southwards the night.
68. But hear now the brief (description of) the duration of a night
and a day of Brahman and of the several ages (of the world, yuga)
according to their order.
69. They declare that the Krita age (consists of) four thousand
years (of the gods); the twilight preceding it consists of as many
hundreds, and the twilight following it of the same number.
70. In the other three ages with their twilights preceding and
following, the thousands and hundreds are diminished by one (in
each).
71. These twelve thousand (years) which thus have been just
mentioned as the total of four (human) ages, are called one age of
the gods.
72. But know that the sum of one thousand ages of the gods (makes)
one day of Brahman, and that his night has the same length.
73. Those (only, who) know that the holy day of Brahman, indeed,
ends after (the completion of) one thousand ages (of the gods) and
that his night lasts as long, (are really) men acquainted with (the
length of) days and nights.
74. At the end of that day and night he who was asleep, awakes and,
after awaking, creates mind, which is both real and unreal.
75. Mind, impelled by (Brahman's) desire to create, performs the
work of creation by modifying itself, thence ether is produced; they
declare that sound is the quality of the latter.
76. But from ether, modifying itself, springs the pure, powerful
wind, the vehicle of all perfumes; that is held to possess the
quality of touch.
77. Next from wind modifying itself, proceeds the brilliant light,
which illuminates and dispels darkness; that is declared to possess
the quality of colour;
78. And from light, modifying itself, (is produced) water,
possessing the quality of taste, from water earth which has the
quality of smell; such is the creation in the beginning.
79. The before-mentioned age of the gods, (or) twelve thousand (of
their years), being multiplied by seventy-one, (constitutes what) is
here named the period of a Manu (Manvantara).
80. The Manvantaras, the creations and destructions (of the world,
are) numberless; sporting, as it were, Brahman repeats this again
and again.
81. In the Krita age Dharma is four-footed and entire, and (so is)
Truth; nor does any gain accrue to men by unrighteousness.
82. In the other (three ages), by reason of (unjust) gains (agama),
Dharma is deprived successively of one foot, and through (the
prevalence of) theft, falsehood, and fraud the merit (gained by men)
is diminished by one fourth (in each).
83. (Men are) free from disease, accomplish all their aims, and live
four hundred years in the Krita age, but in the Treta and (in each
of) the succeeding (ages) their life is lessened by one quarter.
84. The life of mortals, mentioned in the Veda, the desired results
of sacrificial rites and the (supernatural) power of embodied
(spirits) are fruits proportioned among men according to (the
character of) the age.
85. One set of duties (is prescribed) for men in the Krita age,
different ones in the Treta and in the Dvapara, and (again) another
(set) in the Kali, in a proportion as (those) ages decrease in
length.
86. In the Krita age the chief (virtue) is declared to be (the
performance of) austerities, in the Treta (divine) knowledge, in the
Dvapara (the performance of) sacrifices, in the Kali liberality
alone.
87. But in order to protect this universe He, the most resplendent
one, assigned separate (duties and) occupations to those who sprang
from his mouth, arms, thighs, and feet.
88. To Brahmanas he assigned teaching and studying (the Veda),
sacrificing for their own benefit and for others, giving and
accepting (of alms).
89. The Kshatriya he commanded to protect the people, to bestow
gifts, to offer sacrifices, to study (the Veda), and to abstain from
attaching himself to sensual pleasures;
90. The Vaisya to tend cattle, to bestow gifts, to offer sacrifices,
to study (the Veda), to trade, to lend money, and to cultivate land.
91. One occupation only the lord prescribed to the Sudra, to serve
meekly even these (other) three castes.
92. Man is stated to be purer above the navel (than below); hence
the Self-existent (Svayambhu) has declared the purest (part) of him
(to be) his mouth.
93. As the Brahmana sprang from (Brahman's) mouth, as he was the
first-born, and as he possesses the Veda, he is by right the lord of
this whole creation.
94. For the Self-existent (Svayambhu), having performed austerities,
produced him first from his own mouth, in order that the offerings
might be conveyed to the gods and manes and that this universe might
be preserved.
95. What created being can surpass him, through whose mouth the gods
continually consume the sacrificial viands and the manes the
offerings to the dead?
96. Of created beings the most excellent are said to be those which
are animated; of the animated, those which subsist by intelligence;
of the intelligent, mankind; and of men, the Brahmanas;
97. Of Brahmanas, those learned (in the Veda); of the learned, those
who recognise (the necessity and the manner of performing the
prescribed duties); of those who possess this knowledge, those who
perform them; of the performers, those who know the Brahman.
98. The very birth of a Brahmana is an eternal incarnation of the
sacred law; for he is born to (fulfil) the sacred law, and becomes
one with Brahman.
99. A Brahmana, coming into existence, is born as the highest on
earth, the lord of all created beings, for the protection of the
treasury of the law.
100. Whatever exists in the world is, the property of the Brahmana;
on account of the excellence of his origin The Brahmana is, indeed,
entitled to all.
The following segment comes from
http://www.ascendedmaster.com/
The Awakening
There are some who suggest that I have a role to play in the
ultimate elevation of human consciousness. That I and others like
myself shall act a catalyst to usher in a golden age of reason and
understanding. If this is true, than your future is indeed bleak for
I am a poor vessel for such a cause.
This one thing I know, your kind is at a crossroad and its future
hangs by a tread. I have no knowledge that can stay your hand and
keep the thread in tact. Greater masters than I have left their mark
upon this world and yet you find yourselves at a precipice. The
faithful pray in vain for divine intervention not realizing that the
very act denies the faith that they claim to espouse.
You have already been given all things. How can I, or any other
add to this amount?
Why ask for food when your plate is already full? Why ask for
faith until you have acted on what you have already received? It is
the application of faith which transforms it into knowledge. Until
this occurs, no additional faith can be added and growth cannot take
place. To depart this life with your faith in tact is to have not
grown. Do not tell me what you believe, tell me what you have done.
You live in a play dough world that yields readily to your
will. You level mountains and build sky scrappers. You fly across
continents with little thought of the distance. You could have built
an Eden and yet you choose to construct this world with the bricks
of lust and the mortar of greed. Now that the object of your own
design has come to consume you, you call upon higher intelligences
for intervention. And what if God, or a higher power did intervene
on your behalf, what would you have learned from your actions?
I will tell you that you have repeated the mistakes of your
ancestors and that they were not spared the consequences of their
actions.
Neither shall you be.
It fell upon me over a period of seven nights to see the future
that awaits your world. Night fell to night, terror fell to terror,
until the seventh night arrived and there was silence within the
temple. From within the temple door I turned and saw the world that
lie beyond. Many things I have repressed, many others I have tried.
This one thing I will tell you. That which your prophets have called
the wrath of God is not of God but of men. It is the reaction which
follows action, it is the night which follows day.
Therefore, if there is to be an awakening, a rebirth into higher
consciousness, it will not be heralded with the trump of angels or
the channeled utterances of disembodies masters, but by the beat of
a human heart. For love is faith in motion, not in waiting for
external intervention.
When your prayers turn from imploring the blessings of God to
asking that you yourself become a blessing to others, you will find
yourself among the early risers of the new day. When you no longer
seek deliverance but to become a deliverer, you shall be as a light
against the storm. The wind which stirs the branches beyond your
window began as a gentle breeze half way around the globe. There is
but one body of air with many currents which covers the world as a
blanket. There is but one Christ, with many forms which calls us as
one body into unity. When the ego is still, the mind of Christ
speaks. This is your deliverance, this is your salvation. If you
seek Heaven on Earth, let it begin with you in this moment.
It is not in an alignment of stars that your kind will find
salvation, but in an alignment of souls. Therefore look not to
salvation from above, but salvation from within, for this is the
will of God.
Please visit this website for more:
http://www.ascendedmaster.com/
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