', ■/■ 
 
 
 
AS(A 
 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 3 1924 097 525 954 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924097525954 
 
LECTURES 
 
 ON 
 
 iitk J|eligt8tt. 
 ,y lnis8t|tl|| 
 
 I f 8gi 
 
 BY 
 
 HAKRAVARTI, YOGA-SASTRI. 
 
 srrRPTARV, CAICCTTA VOCA SOMAJ 
 
 AND 
 lENOAI. ACAiiEMY OF LirERATURE. 
 
 "TftuF), 
 
 ii- i!) which no j;rent^ blessing cm 
 aian receive or God bestow." 
 
 PliiUirch, 
 
 R E S S. „| 
 
 ^"^ ii. 
 
LECTURES 
 
 ON 
 
 BY 
 
 K. CHAKRAVARTI, YOGA-SASTRI, 
 
 SBCRBTARY, CALCUTTA YOGA SOMAJ 
 
 AND 
 BENGAL ACADEMY OF LITERATURE. 
 
 "Truth, 
 th^n which no greater blessing can 
 man receive or God bestow." 
 
 Flutarck. 
 
 PRINTED BY U. C. SHOME : 
 
 TH*E NEW BRITANNIA P R E S S, 
 
 78, AMHEUST STREET, CALCUTTA. 
 IRO.'?. ' 
 
This Volume of L 
 
 OLUME OF Lectures 
 
 ON 
 
 HINDU RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY AND YOGA 
 
 A«E INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO 
 
 MAHARAJ KUMAR BENDY KRISHNA DEV BAHADUR; 
 
 THE PATRON OF THE YOGA SOU A J, 
 
 AS A MARK OF 
 
 ftDMII^ATiON FOR HIS MANY INESTIMABLE QUALITIES 
 
 AND OF 
 
 GF^TITUDE POI^ THE EUpOUr^AQE/VlErtT 
 GIVEN BY HIM 
 
 TO THE SOMAJ. 
 
 '*" ■ } K. CHAKRAVARTI. 
 
 CALCUTTA: 
 
 t 
 The 15th. October, 1893. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. Spirit Worship of Ancient India ... 
 
 II. Patanjal Yoga Philosophy 
 
 lit Eariy Tantras of the Hindus 
 
 The Religious Aspects of the Tantras 
 The Medical Aspects of the Jantras 
 IV. Some Thoughts on the Gita 
 
 V. Raj Yoga V^l*^-^'^ 
 
 VI. Chandi 
 
 VII. Tatwas : what they may be 
 
 PAGE. ' 
 
 I- 
 
 - 22 
 
 ... 23- 
 
 - 48 
 
 ... 49- 
 
 - 66 
 
 ... 6y- 
 
 - 78 
 
 ... 79- 
 
 - 91 
 
 ... 91- 
 
 -113 
 
 ... 113- 
 
 -136 
 
 ••• 137- 
 
 -146 
 
 ... 146- 
 
 -158 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The author of the following lectures is well known 
 to the public, and this fact renders any introduction 
 from the Publisher unnecessary. He began efforts 
 as an author when he A^as only in the First Year Class 
 of the Calcutta Presidency College. Commencing in 
 1873 he wrote a series of interesting novels in the. 
 Vernacular, which earned for him the reputation of 
 being "one of the best writers of the day." In 1886 
 he had a vision, which was followed by a calamity which 
 induced him to study the question of life after death. 
 He studied Hindu religion, philosophy, psychology 
 and yoga with great diligence, and founded a society 
 which was called "the Calcutta Psycho-religious 
 Society" — a name which has subsequently been changed 
 to "Sri Chaitanya Yoga Sadhan Somaj." The following 
 lectures are the result of his studies, and were delivered 
 from time to time at the meetings of the Society, and 
 were printed in the leading journals of the day, name- 
 ly, the Statesman, the Indian Mirror, the Indian 
 Public Opinion, the Theosophist &c, — a fact which 
 speaks for the interesting character of the lectures. 
 Those who have studied Hindu philosophy, psychology 
 and yoga, know how dry the subjects are, yet the 
 author has, by the gift of his imagination and the clear 
 understanding of his subjects, moulded his lectures 
 and clothed them in a way which is at once artistic 
 and pleasing. The lectures are published with the 
 consent of the author for the benefit of the Yoga 
 Sbmaj. 
 
 PRAMATHA NATH MOOKERJEE, 
 
 ASST. SECRETARY, BAGBAZAR HARI-SAVA. 
 
 Publisher 
 
* LECTURE-I. 
 
 SPIRIT-WORSHIP OF ANCIENT INDIA FROM THE EARLI- 
 EST VEDIC AGE TO THE AGE OF THE TANTRAS. 
 
 (Read at the general meeting of the Calcutta Psycho-Religious Society 
 on the 29th March 1889). 
 
 It has devolved on me, as Secretary of the "Calcutta 
 Psycho-Religious Society," to deliver a lecture at one of 
 their general meetings during the current year on any subject 
 that may tend to advance the cause of the society generally, 
 and be useful to it in particular. To choose such a subject is 
 by no means an easy matter. I have thought of divers themes, 
 but one appears to me suitable to th3 present stage of 
 the institution, and that is an attempt to trace the various 
 phases of Spirit- worship in India from the earliest Vedic 
 age to the age- of the Tantras, or the age in which 
 spiritualism, almost as understood at present, was sedu- 
 lously cultivated— an age in which the lamp of Hindoo intel- 
 lect burnt with supernatural lustre. The task, though self-- 
 imposed, is by no means a light one, especially as no competent 
 writer took it up before me ; and as the materials to be worked 
 upon, lie so wildly scattered all about, that the idea of raising 
 a superstructure out of them is fraught with misgivings. My 
 position appears to me like that of a solitary traveller, standing 
 in moonlight in the midst of a vast ruin, and wishing to build 
 a hamlet out of the grand and dilapidated edifices around him. 
 
 The earliest religious books of the Hindus are the four 
 Vedas. Thea are considered by them to be the words uttered 
 by the Creator Himself, and are in their estimation as sacred 
 and infallible as the Koran or the Bible is in the estimation 
 of the Mahomedans or the Christians. The Vedas are also 
 called Srutis, because long before they were collected, arranged 
 and written down into books, they had passed through memory 
 
( 2 ) 
 
 from generation to generation like the Iliad of Homer. The 
 worships, enjoined in the Vedas, comprise the worship of one 
 Supreme Being, and the worship of the presiding deities or 
 spirits of the five elements, Fire being the most prominent 
 of all, of Indrd, the ruler of heaven, and Jdmd, the spirit 
 of destruction. The Brdhmd of the Vedas is described to 
 be 
 
 c 
 
 "Satyam bijnanandam Btdhmd" 
 i. e., He who is truth, who is purest intelligence and 
 happiness. I translate the three words satyam, btj'nanaM, 
 and anandam as truth, purest intelligence, and happiness ; 
 but they, by no means adequately convey the meaning of the 
 three terms in question ; for instance, the word satyam, though 
 literally means truth, yet it carries the idea of everlastingness. 
 Similarly the word bijnanam means not merely purest intelli- 
 gence, but intelligence as distinguished from matter, convey- 
 ing at the same time the idea of chaitanye^, or animation in 
 the abstract ; and anandam is unalloyed happiness, based on 
 all that is of love — holy, grand, and beautiful. 
 
 Thus it will be seen, that the idea of the existence of se- 
 parate spirits, besides the Highest and the Purest, was not 
 only entertained, but worshipped, which used to be done aniong 
 other ways va yags. Very many of the y«^j were used to be 
 performed from selfish motives — such as the Ashdmaidhd for 
 securing dominions in heaven, the Syana for conquering 
 enemies, &c. Besides the spirits above alluded to, we find 
 later on in the Ayurvedd (the ancient Hindu system of 
 medicine), which is a -g^xX. oi ^(t Athdrvavedd, allusions to 
 diseases which were ascribed to the influence of good or evil 
 spirits. These diseases, although included undej^the heading 
 of "insanity," have been nevertheless treated separately as 
 "Bhouhk Unmad" or spiritual insanity. While the most in- 
 curable forms of insanity have their remedies, these have been 
 left to prayers and incense as the only curative agents. A de- 
 tailed list of these disordeirs with their specific symptoms will, 
 
( 3 ) 
 
 no doubt, be interesting to many at this distant time. It is 
 
 3S follows : — 
 
 (i) Asuravasa , or pos- 
 session by ^j«r3J ... Constant sweating, indomitable cour- 
 age, dislike for every thing holy, 
 insatiable appetite, and inclina- 
 tion for doing evil. 
 
 (2) Gandkarvabasa' , or 
 possession by Gun- 
 
 ■ dkurvas ... Cheerful heart, love for music, swe5t 
 
 smell and garlands, and walking 
 on river banks. Love for cleanly 
 habits and occasional laughing 
 and dancing. 
 
 (3) Jakskavasa, or ^s- 
 
 sessionhy/aks&as ... Intensely red eyes, inclination for 
 I wearing red clothes, gravity of 
 
 ' manner, hurried walking, little 
 
 disposed to talk, and ever readi- 
 ness at all times to give bless- 
 ' , ings. 
 
 (4) Pitravasa' or posses- 
 sion by/*//; /^rwj^ax... Fondness for walking by the river 
 
 side or going to rivers with the 
 object of offering funeral cakes 
 
 '' to the spirits of diseased ances- 
 
 f- tors. 
 
 (5) Devavasa', or posses- 
 sion by Devatas ... Fondness for clean habits and gar» 
 
 lands of flowers, gladness of heart, 
 conversation in chaste and classic 
 language, full of devotion, and al- 
 ways disposed to bless. 
 
 (6) Rahshasvasha , or 
 
 possession by /?<?^jA«j.., Inordinate fondness for flesh, blood; 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 and intoxicating liquors, desti^^ 
 tute of shame, unusually power- 
 ful, very passionate, disposed to 
 be unclean, and to walk at night. 
 (7) Pisdchvasa' or ^os- 
 
 scssionhy PisAacks... Slender body, stern appearance, 
 greedy, fond of secluded places, 
 body emitting offensive odour, and 
 . disposed to cry at times. 
 ' From the above it is also evident, that the existence of spi- 
 rits, whether they were of dead men or they belonged to other 
 orders, at present only known to us by names, was seriously 
 believed by the scientific men of the time ; and it was believed' 
 also that under peculiar circumstances, the character and the 
 general mode of life of an individual could be materially alter- 
 ed for good or evil by a spirit. 
 
 Of God Himself as immaterial spirit* — an abstract Being, 
 the Hindus had, and till have, the clearest conception. The 
 ancients, while acknowledging Him to be such, distinctly state 
 that it is necessary for the purpose of devotion and worship, 
 to contemplate Him in some shape or other, who is the source 
 of life, who is without an equal, indivisible, and immaterial. 
 Thus:— 
 
 Chinmayasyd-dityasyd niskalasyd skaririnS, 
 l^asakanam karyrthaw Brahmanairupa halpanam. 
 It was immaterial to the ancients in what shape a devotee 
 is to conceive the Creator in his mind. He may contemplate 
 Him as a ray of light, or ascribe to him a human shape with 
 ultra-human qualities ; in a word, in the way in which he him- 
 self ii best satisfied. I think our ancestors were judiciously 
 right in this respect. True it is, that the human mind alone is 
 capable of realising an abstract truth, such as (a+b)* = a*+- 
 aab-hb^, but to contemplate an abstract being—an abstract 
 
 • Every spirit except the highest is oonsidered by the Hindoos to be material to a certain 
 ciitnit. ■ •• 
 
( S ) 
 
 existence, is infinitely more difficult than tc contemplate an 
 abstract quantity or quality, of which some shadow of analogy 
 we have here for the 'basis of our contemplation. The diffi- 
 culty does not stop here. For a man who requires to commune 
 with his Maker, who wishes to pour out his full heart to Him, 
 who wants His protecting power in various ways and under 
 various circumstances, an imagipary corporeality in place of a 
 pure negation — a vacuum —a name, is necessary to fix his mind, 
 to call the best feelings of his heart into nlpy, to raise his soul 
 from all that is earthy to all that is etherial. Moreover, the 
 human mind, privileged though it is to soar so high as the foot 
 ofthe Throne of the Almighty, is nevertheless, by its very nature, 
 incapble of grasping the awful depths of infinity : and when 
 we hear men and nations worship God as an immaterial spirit, 
 we really believe that they do so with some idea of 
 corporeality. 
 
 The way in which the Hindus ofthe Vedic times used to 
 invoke God or an inferior spirit, is both unique and admirable, 
 for we see in it distinct traces of profound thought, clear 
 understanding of the subject, wise discovery of means, and 
 systematic arrangement of methods to attain the wished for 
 object. The whole is known by one happy term, called Yogd or 
 union, from the Sanskrit verb j/^a, to unite. It is the ardent 
 desire of one mind to be united to another either temporarily, 
 or permanently for the sake of union itself —an union self- 
 surrendering and absolute, known by the term Ntivana'. Various 
 are the forms of Yogas, inculcated to suit various dispositions 
 and to attain various objects, but they all have to pass through 
 six stages, called Asan, Pranayam, Pratyhar, Dharana, Dkyan, 
 and Samadhi, i. e., (i) a certain method of sitting; (2) a certain 
 method of drawing breath and letting it out; (3) a control over 
 the senses to produce abstraction; (4) acquirement of the power 
 to hold one idea in the mind for the purposes of contemplation; 
 (5) meditation profound and abstract which brings its object 
 fully and undisturbedly before the mind; (6) absolute forgetful- 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 iicss of self and siirroilndirigs to produce complete absorption 
 of one mind in another, f 
 
 According to some authorities, the stages to be passed are 
 eight in number, but as the two additional stages, named 
 Varna' and Niyama, refer nnore to the rules of living than to 
 actual processes; I have thonght it best to leave them out' 
 
 The time of the year chosqp for the first commencement of 
 Yoga' is the spring season, i. e., the months of»Febiuary, March 
 and April, after whiqji the Fi^^a' is to be postponed till autumn,. 
 £fnd then recommenced in the next spring, till the young 
 devotee is able to hold breath for a.Jamardka', or such a length 
 of time as about an hour and a half. In treatises on Yoga'., 
 the rules of living, as also the articles of food to be taken and 
 abandoned, are cautiously and judiciously laid down; and the 
 whole thing is so beautifully arranged that one cannot help 
 thinking that the ancients not only understood well their sub- 
 ject, but also the relations of externalnatureiwith ourselves 
 and the vital principle of life. ; 
 
 In the narration of the virtues of some of the . Yogas, Maha-. 
 mudra for instance, we find it distinctly asserted that a. 
 person practising it, is able to overcome fever, spleen, dysr. 
 pepsia, and even phthisis, and one practising Tataka' is 
 sure to get immunity from diseases of the eye, and is able to 
 preserve a clear eye^sight for life. It is stated in praise of 
 Kapalavati Yoga, of which there are three sorts, that those 
 
 - t (1) A devotee is required first to learn how he should sit for Yoga, This entails some sort 
 of physical exercise, which gives him at the outset a oonrtol over his body and all its parts. 
 
 (2) The breath is ^aa be slowly drawn by the left nostril, and kept in the lungs tor a certain 
 length of time and then to be let out gradually by the right nostriL 
 
 (3^ The second process, when fairly learnt, will enable the devotee to exercise a strong 
 restraint over his senses, which will help him to realize more vividly the object he has in mind. ' 
 
 (4) By the 'fourth process he is able to acquire' the power of holding the object of his worship 
 in his mind for contemplation. . 
 
 ^5) 'When the mind is able to hold its object for some length of time, the devotee is able by 
 this process to realize it undisturbed by self and surroundings. 
 
 (K) When the mind Is brought to the fifth staeje, it remains to be united to the Deity or a 
 spirit— a stage known to be the highest effort of finite mind, namely absor^OB, pure 'and 
 complete in its object. ' r ' . 
 
( 7 ) 
 
 who 'practise it, need scarcely suffer fro;n diseases arising; 
 from cold, and can arrest old age. 
 
 From the time of the Vedas I now come down to another 
 period, namely, the age of Durshana' or philosophy. It was 
 the age of contention, fierce and fiery, between six different 
 schools of philosophers, known by the names of Sankhya', Pa- 
 tanjal, Vedanta', Byskashika, Ifyaya', and Mimamsa'. Of 
 these the first andtthe last* do not acknowledge the creative 
 and controlling power of God ; the foiv intermediates do. 
 The venerable Kapili, the author of the Sankhya philosophy; 
 was of opinion — an opinion shared by all the subsequent 
 schools of philosophers — that the highest aim of man should 
 be to free himself from pains, which, according to him, are 
 of three descriptions, namely, (i) those arising from our own 
 . infirmities and unwisdom, such as diseases ; (2) those arising 
 from our relations with other animals, such as a thief or a 
 tiger ; (3) those arising from our relation with external nature, 
 such as a cyclone, an earthquake or an evil spirit. To free 
 one's self from all these three sorts of pains entirely and abso- 
 lutely, one is required to cultivate knowledge, practise yoga 
 and to cut himself thoroughly and well from all wishes for 
 enjoyments. According to his theory, the combination of 
 Prakriti and Purushd, i. e. of Nature or the .passive mate- 
 rial cause with the active or spiritual cause is the creation. 
 The Patanjal school agree in the main with the doctrine of 
 the Sankhyd school, with this difTerence that they acknowledge 
 the creative and controlling power of the Deity, The Nyayd 
 and theByshasikd school while they join issue with the Patan- 
 jal school, in regard to the existence afld power of the Deity, 
 differ from the Pa^^M/a/ school in regard to the number of 
 Podarthos or categories which they put down at sixteen and 
 seven respectively, such as substance, quality, action, iden- 
 tity, variety, relation, and annihilation. The Byskasiks 
 farther hold thatevery organic or inorganic object is composed 
 of its own special atoms. ThsVedantd school attribute every 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 thing to God, who is only real, and all that we see, hear, 
 feel or perceive are Maya or illusion. The word illusion is 
 hardly'a significant term to convey the exact sense of socomplex 
 a term as Maya. Maya is illusion so far as it leads a mind to 
 conceive an object to be its own, which is not really its own. 
 It is in this sense they hold that all things of this earth, nay 
 of thi&universe, are transitory, and God alone is everlasting. 
 The Mimamsa school ascribe the creation to the combination 
 of elements, and when the combination falls away, destruction 
 tnsues. They ascribe intelligence and life also to the combi- 
 nation of elements, as alcohol is theresult of sugar-water when 
 exposed to a certain ex'tent to the sun. 
 
 Of the six schools of philosophers and their doctrines, very 
 briefly enumerated above, the Shankhyd school requires special 
 attention; for Maharshi Kapild was the only seer who spoke 
 with some definiteness about nature and soul. 
 He says — 
 
 Totsannidhana dadhishtatritam Monibat. 
 i. e., as the loadstone does not by any action of its will attract 
 the iron, the Prakriti or the passive material cause ( matter ) 
 is attracted to the spiritual or the intelligent, and the result is 
 the creation. 
 
 He further states — 
 
 Sabhaba-chestita monivishandhanat Vritabat. 
 i. e. as the besj servant does not from any motive of self- 
 enjoyment engage himself in his master's work, so the Prakriti 
 without any motive of its own, i. e., naturally, is anxious for 
 creation. 
 
 With regard to soul, he says — 
 Mata Pitrijam Sthulam Prayashaitaranna totka. 
 i. e., the active or spiritual cause ( the soul ) "sprang before 
 the creation. It is not born of mother and father. 
 Purbath potastath Karjatham Vogadaikosya Naitaraihya 
 It is the soul, he says, that suffers pain or pleasure, and 
 not the heavy body, for we see the corpse does nqt. 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 According to him, the soul requires a subtle body ( which 
 is the architype of the grosser body ) as a receptacle. This 
 subtle body cannot be like Anu { atomic ), for then it would 
 have been almost immaterial, which is not the case. It is small, 
 but at the sa<ne time parichannd (detached), for it has action. 
 
 While the idea of God, he says, cannot be logically arrived 
 at, he believes when he says as in the line below — 
 • Doibadi Frovedd. 
 
 Such orders of spirits as Brahma, Prajapattyd, Gondharbyd,. 
 Jakshd, Rakskd, Pishachd or the spirits mentioned in the 
 Vedas. According to him 
 
 (2) Sahi sarbabit Sarbakartd. 
 
 i. e. the Prakritilina spirit of one creation becomes the 
 creator of another. 
 
 In his opinion, 
 
 Bhabonopachoya Chudhyasa Satbam Ptaktitibat. i. &, 
 a Purusa can be sinless by (I) Bhabana {meditation), and then 
 he acquires all the wealth of Prahiti, i. e., acquires the 
 creative, preservative, and destructive powers of Prakriti. 
 
 Of the way to Mukti or absorption, he says, 
 • Jnanatmvkti. 
 
 i. e., true knowledge is mukti or absolute freedom from 
 pains. 
 
 A clear resumi of what is stated above, would be that, 
 although the idea of God, as creator, cannot be logically arrived 
 at, for he says, Abhiman, or vanity, which pre-supposses crea- 
 tion cannot be logically ascribableto a perfect God, he believes 
 that both matter and spirit are eternal ; and as the former is 
 always anxious for creation, an union with the latter is crea- 
 tion. He, therefore, acknowledges Brahma, Hari and Hari of 
 the Vedas, and other spirits, such as Gandkarbyd, Jakskd, 
 Pishachd, &c. Man, in his opinion, is an embodied spirit, 
 which has a sukshma or subtle'body exactly like the gosser 
 one, but very small in dimension. The grosser body is born 
 of woman, but the spirit is eternal, existing before creation. 
 
( lo ) 
 
 The spirit suffers and enjoys so long as it is mixed up with 
 Prakriti or matter ; and grosser the matter is, the heavier 
 are the sufferings of the former. To free one's self from pains 
 in this world as well as in the world to come, one should 
 cultivate true knowledge, fnanat mukti. Yet he says elsewhere, 
 and he was, indeed, the first man who said so clearly, and 
 learnedly that if there had been no such thing as pain or 
 Dukshd in this world, all questions of scierice would never 
 have been asked by man — "Abam hi Shastmbishva nd 
 jigashyata Jadi DuksJiamnama Jogotinashyaf . The pains lead 
 the way to knowledge, and knowledge destroys pains ; for 
 in so far as a man understands his own self, i. e., his own spirit, 
 he tries and frees himself from the bondage of prakriti or 
 matter. It is then instead of being controlled by nature, be 
 controls nature, i. e., he aquires the creative, preservative, and 
 destructive powers ; and in his opinion the spirit of one 
 creation can be the creative and controlling spirit of another, 
 1 shall revert to this last statement of Mabarshi Kapild in a 
 separate paper, as it supports a theory of mine which cannot 
 be discussed in an off-hand way. 
 
 From the age of Durshana, I now come to the age of 
 i'?/>^««j— an age resembling the geological age of our earth, 
 known by the name of Tertiery epcKh— an age of somewhat 
 peaceful settlement after a period of contentions and up- 
 heavals on all questions of theology, polity, and domestic 
 laws. It was an age from which the existing rules and orders 
 of the Hindoo society could be primarily traced. It was the 
 dawn of religious history and of polite literature of the 
 Hindus. All the glories and successes of this age are almost,, 
 due to one mighty- one gigantic mind, the mind of Maharshi ■ 
 Vyasi, the renowned author of the Mahabliaratd, the Gitd 
 and Purans. The Purans are eighteen in number, and 
 they individually and collectively treat of five topics, namely, 
 (I) the creation, (2) the destruction of worlds, (3) the renovation 
 of worlds, (4) the geneoldgy of gods and heroes, (5) the ' 
 
( 11 ) 
 
 reigns of the Manus and their descendants, and all matters 
 ritual and spiritual. 
 
 Maharshi Vyasa appears to have found that (a) the vague 
 and indefinite idea of the Deity, propounded by the 
 school men, something like the "scientific frontier" of th« 
 present day, though cognizable, as is presumed, by bright 
 intellect, was utterly unsuited to ttie mass of men and 
 women composing society ;— that {b) man finite and erring, 
 yet a spiritual being, requires the aid of some spirt of high 
 heaven to lead him up to God ; — that (c) the worship of such 
 a spirit in form (Akar) as one's protecting spirit was necessary 
 to deter him from vice and to dispose him to be good and 
 pious. He accordingly introduced spirit-worship for the mass. 
 The Devatas, or the high spirits of the Purans, are clssified 
 into three principal groups, namely, the Adi-devatas,the Kurma- 
 devatas, and X^^ePryafana-devatas, i. e., ist the three primary 
 emanations of the Deity (the Trinity of the Hindn religion) 
 representing- the three powers, creative, preservative and des- 
 tructive ; 2nd the spirits of men who by their Karma or 
 work in this world have attained celestial powers, such 
 as Indrd, and srdly Pryajana-devatas^ or those who have 
 been created to carry out some special purposes or rather to 
 meet certain urgent emergencies, such as Kali, Chandi, &c. 
 The term Devata must not be confounded with Pard Bramhd 
 or the Deity. Ps. Devata oi \}ci& Hindoos resembles an Arch- 
 angel of the Christians of a Farista of the Mahomedans, and 
 .literally means one who leads us to the abode of bliss. The 
 question now is, are the worshippers of Devatas losers by such 
 worship ? By no means. The narrow-minded religious bigots 
 would tell you that they are, but such is not the case. A Ram 
 Prosad could see his Kali, and talk to her in the same way as 
 one would talk to a friend. He drew all his inspirations from 
 her, and wrote as an inspired writer. He wrote songs — such 
 tendejr, sublime, and celestial songs that they would last as long 
 as the Bengali language and literature would last I remem- 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 ber once to have read in Fenelon that when a man of so-called 
 virtue derides a brother man for his errors, he does it not from 
 a sense of v.irtue, but from the imperfections of that virtue 
 which he tries to show so conspicuously. When similarly a 
 man of intelligence and faith sees another concentrating all 
 his heart's love and his illimitable faith on an idol whom 
 he earnestly believes to be the creator of our immense 
 solar system and of millions more, "would he dare think that 
 his soul would go to purgatory or hell for his ignorant worship 
 or the worship he has been brought up to observe ? Certainly 
 not, for not an atom of our goodness, our so-called sorrows, our 
 faith, our love, is ever lost or goes unrequitted ; for our God 
 is illimitable love and is the God of our heart, and not of our 
 intellect. The ignorant worshipper even by his blind faith can 
 attain godly powers and attributes in this earth, which the 
 pampered priests and pr,eacherB cannot conceive. Irrespective 
 of the ineffable delight which permanently dwells in the heart 
 of a faithful worshipper, he sees things which many cannot see ; 
 he hears words which many cannot hear ; he alleviates human 
 pains which are deemed to be beyond all powers of alleviation ; 
 he sheds a bright, happy, and peaceful influence over all with 
 whom he comes in contact. If these attributes and powers 
 which he acquires, be all shadows, we cannot conceive what else 
 could there be godly for finite man in this world ! Imagine for 
 a moment what a battle a poor man has to fight on earth. 
 There are the inherent temptations of flesh, the temptations 
 of riches and power, the temptations of society and friends, 
 each of which is a formidable enemy in its own way, and the 
 greater is the power of each as each has a sophistry and a 
 mask by which to delude its victim ; and imagine at the same 
 time the difficulties on his part to fix his faith on a Being who 
 transcends all reason and imagination amidst anomalies of 
 earthly circumstances, occurring constantly to mislead him into 
 paths of tangled meshes. Is it not necessary, under the circum- 
 stance, to yield one's self- to the protection of some good and 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 and high spirit, to be upborne by his kindly help ? Suppose 
 a man has to mount a very high place by a ladder. Is it not 
 safe and more cheering for him to find one holding it at the 
 bottom, and another with a kindly face descending from above 
 with an outstretched arm to take him up ? Your ladder of faith 
 is held firmly by your Guru (teacher) on earth, encouraging you 
 to go up and on, and the angel from above with a sweet assur- 
 ing face buoying up your spirit. True it is that the life-histo- 
 ries of certain individuals furnish us with instances of men 
 who, without initiation or instruction of any kind, and simply 
 by the dint of their own strong heart and unbounded faith, 
 rose unhampered and unchecked by the deterring voices of 
 friends and relations, like one in a solitary wilderness, who, 
 driven by inordinate thirst and appetite, climbs a lofty tree 
 for fruits which in ordinary circumstances of life he could never 
 have dreamt to do. But such instances are rare — very few and 
 far between, to serve as a guide for ordinary men. Maharshi 
 Vyasa must have had such reasons, and more cogent ones than 
 I can presume to conceive, in his mind, when he introduced 
 spirit-worship in India. He was also the first who definitely 
 gave the idea of heaven and hell. He classified the former 
 into seven lokas or regions, and the latter into twenty-eight. 
 According to him, the lokas are as follows : — 
 
 "The Bhur-lokay\h!t earth / Bhuvar-loka, the space between 
 the earth and the sun, the region of Munis, &c. ; Sara-loka, 
 the heaven of Indra, between the sun and the polar star ; 
 Mahar-loka, the abode of Saints ; the Jana-loka, the abode of 
 Bramhia's sons ; Tapa-loka where the deities called Vairagis 
 reside ; lastly, the Satyaloka, the loka of truth,— the abode of 
 Bramha. 
 
 The Purans furnish us also with the presiding deities of the 
 seven lokas which are as follow : — 
 
 Bhur-loka Fire. 
 
 Bhurvar-loka Air. 
 
 Sara-loka Sun. 
 
-( H ) 
 
 Mahar-loka Additya Basu, Ashinf, &c. 
 
 Jana-loka Prajapati. 
 
 Tapa-loka * Manu, Sanat Kumar. 
 
 Satya-Ioka Bramhd 
 
 Besides the seven lokas mentioned above, it is asserted 
 that the fixed stars beyond the sun are also lokas, where dwell 
 the spirits of those who are qualified by their works to fill those 
 happy regions. The moral qualification necessary for the 
 sojourn in these spheres are — 
 
 (a) Truthfulness. 
 
 (h) Candour. 
 
 (c) Kindness. 
 
 (d) Largeness of heart. 
 (f.) Forgiving spirit. 
 
 (f) Subjugation of anger. 
 
 (g) Patience in sufferings. 
 (li) Purity of character. 
 
 (i) Brightness from taipa or meditation worship, &c. 
 
 In the American edition of Surja Shidhantd — an astrono- 
 mical work of great repute in India, I find a star named by 
 him as Bramhd Hridya (the heart of Bramha). Its position, 
 as put down in the work, is 
 
 60 deg 29 min. 27 deg. 53 min. N 
 
 The american editor has indentified it with Capella. 
 
 The question which a Hindoo is tempted to ask is, is it 
 
 the abode of Bramhi, the centre of the universe ? 
 
 I now come to the last head of my discourse, namely, the 
 age of Tantras. The age of the Fe^oj was the age of divine 
 revelations. The Vedas were supposed by some to be co-exist- 
 ent with Bramha. The age of DarsJiana was the age of Tatya 
 or the age of enquiry as to the "real nature of the human soul," 
 which was considered to be "as one and the same with divine 
 spirit, animating the universe :" the philosophical etymology 
 of the word signifying as much, namely, tada, that divine Being 
 and tang, thou, i. e., "the very God art thou." In the Poura- 
 nik age the seeds of spirit worship were sown broadcast all 
 over the land, which bore fruits in the age of Tantras. The 
 
( IS ) 
 
 last was the age of spiritualism — a word to be understood 
 almost in the sense in which it is known at present in the West ; 
 for the elements comprising modern Spiritualism were not only 
 understood and investigated, but were carried to a degree of 
 success. We find in the Tantras directions for forming circles, 
 for invoking high and low spirits, for automatic writings, and 
 showing spirit-forms, &c., in mirror, and also directions for 
 fascinating and hypnotising individuals. These all used to be 
 done in a manner peculiar to India. The great object of the 
 followers of Tantras was to simplify all kinds of knowledge 
 acquired in the preceding ages, whether it belonged to the 
 dominion of speculative philosophy, religion, science, polity, 
 domestic rules or occultism. 
 
 From the description of subjects given above, it will appear 
 that Spiritualism was only a part of the entire Tantras. The 
 authors of Tantras were of opinion that the customs, laws, 
 and even religious rites of a country should be modified to suit 
 the different states of society at different times, and they 
 accordingly, without rejecting all those of the preceding ages, 
 built a system of their own calling it Tantras from a Sanakrit. 
 word which literally means to weave. No doubt, the warps 
 and wcofs woven by the Tanttiks are even in decay, such as 
 would command admiration for originality, boldness, and inge- 
 nuity, and had it not been for the idleness, ignorance, and un- 
 scrupulousness of the generality of the followers, much that 
 is of use, for instance, in chemistry and medicine, would have 
 been preserved. I n a land where early marriage burdens a man 
 with a family in youth, where the climate is so enervating that 
 mere tranquility is a labour, where religious knowledge and its 
 cultivation are confined to some classes of men, an easy road 
 is oftein sought to earn a livelihood. Accordingly we find men 
 who, under the cloak of Tanttik rites, swindle people right and 
 left, and practise such abominable deeds as a man of honour 
 would shudder to think. ■ 
 
 The number of original Tantras is sixty-four. 
 
( i6 ) 
 
 The principal object of Tantrik worship is the attainment 
 of superhuman power through the medium of the spirits, and 
 also the attainment of all wished-for objects through their help. 
 The higher aspect of the Tantras is identically the same as that 
 of the Vedas and Purans, namely, the union with a spirit by 
 meditation, with this difference, that the Yoga and Yagas of 
 preceeding ages were considered unsuited and almost beyond 
 the capacity of the men of their timfes, and that the necesscey 
 objects could be attained by the easier process oijapa and 
 meditation. 
 
 The main features of the Tantrik worship are the same as 
 the Pouranik worship, namely, to sit according to a prescribed 
 method, isolating one's self within a circle to be drawn by water 
 and thereby cut himself from all impurities and influences of 
 surrounding evil spirits, if any, and then to invoke and offer 
 fresh-blown flowers, incense &c., to his Devta, or to do the 
 same in mind without the necessity of holy water, fire, flowers 
 inqense, and to absorb one's self hyjapa and meditation. The 
 second process is said to he superior to the first, which is for 
 the beginners, and the third the best of all. 
 
 The Tantriks place much value on Satachakrd, or six 
 circles in the human body. He is said to be the best 
 worshipper who has succeeded in cutting the six circles • 
 for the real union, cannot, it is said, take place until 
 a man's soul rises gradually above the influences of the five 
 circles to reach the sixth. The six circles have been mentioned 
 in detail in the Mahanirvand Tantra, but the dfBculty, as the 
 general opinion is, is to understand the hidden meaning of 
 them. My interpretation of them, after having carefully gone 
 through their descriptions, was called ingenious by a learned 
 Sanskrit scholar, but not the true interpretation. He promised 
 to give me the true interpretation some day, but as the promis- 
 ed interpretation never came. I think, in the absence of any- 
 thing satisfactory, I may venture to put before you, that which 
 has been said to be plausible. The six circles described are 
 
( 17 ) 
 
 said to situate in the parts of the body mentioned below, begin- 
 ning from the lowest : — 
 
 1. Hypogastric region. 
 
 2. Umbellical „ 
 
 3. Sternal „ 
 
 4. Inter Clavicular 
 
 5. Frontal „ 
 
 6. Interparietal „ 
 
 A worshipper is required to conceive in each of the six 
 places a certain number of dominant good and evil propensities 
 together with a resident Devata to be worshipped. The number 
 of good propensities predominate over evil ones, as the higher 
 circle is reached. The worshipper is to worship with the 
 metaphorical flowers and incense of good propensities, and to 
 slay the evil ones at the altar of the Devata. The evil propen- 
 sities or passions are symbolised, such as anger is represented 
 by a buffalo, covetousness by a sheep, another by a goat, &c., 
 but instead of slaying these passions, we now kill innocent live 
 goats, buffaloes and sheep for nothing. The real meaning of the 
 5^aj^?"«j has been perverted, as I_ venture to _think, in this way. 
 However, as the devotee goes progressing on, rising one circle 
 after another, his heart is filled with all that is good and holy, 
 till he reaches the sixth, where Bramhd is said to reside — an 
 union with Him is the ultimate aim of human existence. 
 
 Let us now turn our attention to the method of spirit-invo- 
 cation and spirit-worship generally. A spirit-invocation presup- 
 poses a firm and orthodox belief in the existence of spirits, 
 which according to Hindoo Skastras, are of various orders, 
 namely, Pevatas, Jaginis, Naikas, Jakshas, Gundhurbas, 
 Aphsaras, Rakkasas, &c. The spirits that were and are 
 generally invoked and worshipped, are the Devatas, Jaginis, 
 and Naikas, and Pishachas sometimes. 
 
 The system of invocation in all cases is pretty nearly the , 
 same. When a person with the object of attaining a certain 
 object is led to invoke a spirit, he is to conceive a picture of 
 her in his mind from the description of her given in the 
 
( iS ) 
 
 Tantras. He is also required to draw such a picture as best 
 as he can, and put it before, what De Quincey calls, his fleshy- 
 eyes. Then on an auspicious day, at an auspicious hour, on 
 a river-bank, in a shady grove, underneath a tree or in a tem- 
 ple, or at the confluence of two rivers, he should sit down 
 and meditate upon the form ideal, and then begin Yix^japa 
 according to the orthodox method of worship laid down. Some 
 incense should be burning before Rim. He should go on re- 
 peating his japa and meditation for a fortnight or a month, 
 according to prescribed term, and on the last day make a 
 suitable offering to the Devi, and wait in expectation of her 
 arrival. On the . first night after the prescribed time, he may 
 see her light ; on the second, she may pass before his eyes 
 like a phantom as an object of hallucination. If the wor- 
 shipper still persists to call her as usual, it is said that he is 
 gradually rewarded with her presence — ^not as a 'fleeting 
 phantom but a real tangible form meet his eyes. He 
 then states his object to her, and asks her blessings which 
 he gets. Each order of spirit has,^and even each spirit has, a 
 separate offering of her own, such as sandal-water, white or 
 red flowers, curd of milk, rice, fish or flesh &c., and each has 
 a special mudrd, a r ethod of intertwining fingers during 
 worship. These mudras, are inexplicable now, and are classed 
 under the head of mysticism. They require the labour and 
 researches of a Reichenbach to make them understbod at 
 present. As the Tantras lay great stress on the use and value 
 of these mudras, I will attempt to describe some that are of a 
 special nature : — . 
 I. Akarskani ot 3L.\.iXdiCt\v& 
 mudra. Close all the fingers of the left hand 
 
 excepting the little finger, and 
 
 pray. This will attract the spirit 
 
 quickly. 
 Fascinating ;«a£/ra ... Stretch all the fingers of the left 
 
 hand, and then twine the little 
 
( 19 ) 
 
 finger with the thumb. This 
 mudra will fascinate the spirit; 
 Mudra to avoid dangers 
 
 at the times of worship. Close all the fingers of the left 
 
 hand, and keep the third finger 
 ' stretched. 
 Mudra to attract any... Close all the fingers of the left and 
 spirit wherever she * right hands, and twinei the two 
 
 may be. little fingers together. 
 
 The Mudras form a part of the worship ; and, as stated 
 .before, are considered to be essentially necessary. The utility 
 of a circle with males and females, ?>., with the necessary 
 adjustment of positive and negative elements according to 
 the Bamacharis, was not understood till lately, and was called 
 a mystic rite like the Mudras as at present. An orthodox 
 follower of Tantras of the present day will tell you that a 
 circle is necessary for invocation ; — that the female elemerit 
 in it is also necessary, but he will not be able to give any ex- 
 planation concerning them whatever, any more than what 
 he is about, or in the case of ^liutomatic writing, when he 
 puts the palm of his hand on loose earth, and places a parti- 
 cular flower, Java — ( of the malvacese order) between his 
 fingers, and keeps looking at it and reciting Mantras from 
 the Tantras. After a time he feels his arm heavy, and his 
 body ftfervous and then his hand moves slowly over the loose 
 earth, and 'his forefinger writes, as the pencil of a planchette, 
 answers to questions asked by others. 
 
 The Homd forms a part of the worship in invocation and 
 purification. In performing Hema one should be careful to 
 choose the earth on which it is to be performed. The 
 whitish earth gives success, the reddish landed property, 
 the greenish riches and other blessings. The black earth 
 should be entirely avoided. 
 
 The following is a brief list of the principal orders of 
 spirits, mentioned in ^tVedas, Purans, and Tantras: — 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 I. The Gandkarvas 
 and Apsaras. 
 
 2. Thejakshas 
 
 These are the fairest specimens of 
 sf)irits known, and are in request 
 at the courts of devatas for dan- 
 
 ♦ cing, singing and dramatic perfor- 
 mances. 
 
 These are the masters of buried 
 treasures and are very black, 
 and (ff unsightly shape. They 
 have long necks, large bellies, 
 and are clad in white or red 
 dress. 
 
 These are of strong make and 
 very powerful, and are useful to 
 man at the time of fighting, and 
 in such services as require great 
 bodily strength. 
 
 These are the celestial female spirits 
 most bright and beautiful, who 
 in power almost equal the princi- 
 
 • pal Devatas. 
 This class as well as the the third 
 
 class proves of great earthly 
 
 benefit to those who seek for 
 
 their help ; but their contact 
 
 debases man to the efttreme. 
 
 These can tell what -happens to 
 
 . one a hundred miles off, and m any 
 
 past incidents of a man's life, but 
 
 they have no power to forecast 
 
 future events. 
 
 Of hypnotism, and fascination, as practised by the ancients, 
 
 I have but an imperfect knowledge ; but one thing is clear, 
 
 that they rest, as all others hitherto described, on two cardinal 
 
 qualities of man, namely, concentration of mind and will-power. 
 
 These two powers in order to be abiding should have the help 
 
 3. The Danubs and 
 Asuras. 
 
 The Joginis and 
 Naikas 
 
 5. The Piskachas 
 
( 21 ) 
 
 of a good moral conduct. The spirit-help varies according to the 
 nature of objects aimed at as^r instance, it would be impious 
 even to think, that any heavenly spirit would further the cause 
 of an unscrupulous man, who aims at the ruin of his neighbour, 
 or who wishes to sow discord in a happy family. Yet there are 
 spirits, as there are men in our society, who would do all these 
 and demand the price ot their labour, namely, the surrender 
 of the souls of their employers to their vanity, unscrupulousn 
 ness and debasing appetities while on earth — a price that shall 
 cost if not an eternity, yet in comparison with the short term 
 of human life on earth, a time equal to as much of fellowship 
 with them after death. 
 
 "Yet man, fool man, here buries all his thoughts, 
 
 Inters celestial hopes without a sigh." 
 
 On the subject of "spirt-mirror," I have only to say that 
 it is to me the most interesting of all spiritual phenomena. It 
 reflects many incidents, past and future, in a man's life, and 
 requires great psychic power to bring it to success. I refrain 
 from saying any thing on the subject, as it is under my spe- 
 cial investigation. . 
 
 The substance of the lecture, gentlemen, will, no doubt, 
 now convince you that 'Spiritualism' is no new thing in India. 
 Yet it had, as I have said before, a type of its own. There is 
 not a subject now known in Europe and America in connection 
 with; Spiritualism which was not known before in India. She 
 gave to Egypt, Greece, Arabia, and China all the spiritual 
 wealth they wanted. She had men of gigantic intellect, who 
 drew their impressions and inspirations direct from Nature, 
 from courses of events which probably have now ceased to 
 operate like many a phase of diseases, which have at present 
 completely died out,, and new ones have sprung up'in their 
 places ; and it would be very weak logic to hold that they all 
 wallowed in darkness, and at the same time built a system of 
 intelligent worship to cheat themselves — a system that out- 
 lived many a social and political revolution. There is a com- 
 
( 22 ) 
 
 mon sa)'irig amongst us "If you want my help, I would assist 
 you. If not, I would let you aktoe." Well gentlemen, such 
 may be the state of things at present. There might have been 
 a time in the age of this old world, when men talked to spirits, 
 and asked their help, as we do now talk to our friends, and 
 request them to assist us. Yet India of to-day now wants men 
 of commerce, science, and arts to elevate her materially, as 
 the West men of spirituality now, tlTat they have attained a 
 pre-eminence in material prosperity. 
 
 (jjentlemen, I now beg leave to conclude the subject with 
 which I have endeavoured to engage your attention this even- 
 ing ; but before I do so, a few words by way of explanation of 
 my views on it, appears to me to be necessary. Most of you, 
 gentlemen, have no doubt read and heard much of modern 
 Spiritualism, and of the phenomena constituting it. It is a 
 growth of the 19th century — a century of enlightenment and 
 civilisation, yet is the most derided of all subjects, being 
 another name for villainy. But amidst public denouncings 
 and private upbraidings, amidst the general contempt of the 
 press and the scienfists, the magic car moves on. Men in the 
 first rank of literature, science and philosophy mightly stood 
 against it, yet men of equal position and calibre found 
 glimpses of truth to push their enquiries on. The Churchmen 
 denounced it as "humbug" and "satanism," and yet the 
 Churchmen admired the new-born infant, and engaged them- 
 selves in right earnest to foster its growth. The medical men, 
 who more than all others, hurled their dire anathemas over its 
 devoted head, were the foremost to elucidate many points of 
 interest unknown to the public. Thus amidst severe opposition 
 and some approbation, amidst contumely and regard, amidst 
 fury and forgiveness, the magic car moves on. The Spiritualists 
 see the merciful hand of Providence in the movement, which 
 has gained followers not by hundreds or thousands, but by mil- 
 lions, and the day is not distant when a spiritual Columbus will 
 explore the hitherto unexplored land, and amidst tearsand Tede- 
 
( 2^ ) 
 
 urns of joy, land his trusty, weak and vveathsr-beaten comrades 
 to'proclaim the glories of the fa^off region, now dimly seen by 
 few, and hoped for and trusted by many. 
 
 LECTURE-II. 
 
 AN EXAMINATION OF PATONJAL YOGA PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 [ Delivered on the 6 April 1890. ] 
 ( Inscribed to the Sacred memory of my Father. ) 
 
 I PURPOSE to examine this evening one of the most inter- 
 esting subjects for study, namely, the Yoga philosophy of 
 Maharshi Patonjali. There are indeed many treatises on Yoga 
 philosophy in the Sanskrit language, which are more or less 
 alike, but the dne ascribed to the noble. i??>,^/vvhose name I 
 have just mentioned, is universally considered to be the best, 
 both for a clear exposition of the subject, and for the soundness 
 of the views based on practical experience of facts, and judicious 
 study of phenomena, as they presented themselves to a mind 
 refined by previous study, reflection and religious devotion. 
 
 A comparison of the two high minds, the mind of Mahar- 
 shi Kapila and that of Maharshi Patonjali, the founders of 
 the two most ancient schools of philosophy, will not be uninr 
 teresting at the outset. Kapild, the founder of the Sankhyd 
 school, was one of the boldest and most original geniuses 
 ever born. His mind was not merely the mind of a great 
 philosophef or of a poet, but of a seer, grasping the questions 
 of life, death and eternity, of human passions, pains and 
 happiness, with the ease of one who, as if he came down to 
 the earth with the express purpose of teaching mankind, in 
 language more,!terse and epigrammatic than that of Bacon or 
 Emerson ; yet strange as it would seem, but it neverthless 
 appears to be a fact, that he was wanting in the idea of God. 
 Distressed vi/ith the divers forms and dimensions of human 
 pains as the unavoidable condition of life in this world and 
 
( 24 ) 
 
 hereafter, he proposed not to discuss but to teach mankind, 
 how they could be entirely apl absolutely overcome. True 
 it is, he says, that the pains open the door to all questions of 
 the science or in other words, knowledge, yet knowledge is 
 the only weapon to be employed to destroy them. Secular 
 knowledge, he maintains, can partially remove pains as a 
 dose of an adequate medicine can relieve a patient ; — a know- 
 ledge of the weather can forewarn an fndividual from an impen- 
 ding storm ; a strong wall can ward off a thief or a burglar 
 for sometime ; yet it is only a partial relief, and is no adequate 
 provision for a hereafter. True knowledge, the knowledge 
 which gives a man the idea of what he is, i. e. though born 
 to suffer for a time from Abidya or ignorance, yet as a spiri- 
 tual being, he has a capacity for infinite knowledge and infinite 
 improvement. Budha, who followed his fodtprints without 
 deviation, suddenly lost sight of his master in the very place, 
 where he sokrs majestically high and loses himself in a spiri- 
 tual envelope. Kapila, in spite of his shortness of vision in 
 one respect, i. e., the incompatibility of a perfect God with 
 idea of creation, is, neverthless, eminently spiritual, while 
 the ultimatum of Budha's enquiry is Nirvana. The one wren- 
 ches the supreme authority from God and gives it to the spirits, 
 who are said to be the actual rulers, and who can attain abso- 
 lute happiness called mukti or freedom from the bondage of 
 'Prakriti' ; the other dooms man to an eternal cessation of 
 existence. 
 
 The mind of Maharshi Patonjali was of another stamp. 
 It was, as appears from his works, the mind of a great scholar, 
 a profound thinker and a benign and pious man — calm and 
 deep as the Pacific "on whose bosom the image of bright nature 
 sleeps." Having usefully and successfully spent lij^ youth in the 
 study of grammar, literature and science, as appears from his 
 learned dissertations onPaninizxA Charaka, he seemed to have 
 commenced at a somewhat mature age, the study of the Yoga 
 philosophy, briefly enunciated by his venerable predecessors, 
 
( 25 ) 
 
 Kapila and others, and of nature directly to complete a self- 
 imposed task for himself and posterity— a task as noble as 
 could be conceived by a high mind, comprising within its 
 elements the solutions of the great questions of Yoga, which 
 had been attempted by his predecessors with more or less suc- 
 cess, and are as follow: — 
 
 (a) Whether life could be prolonged for the attainment of 
 higher knowledge and devotion -to God. 
 
 (i) Whether, if life could be prolonged, would it be possible 
 to keepi it free from the attacks of diseases and vices which 
 retard progress in spiritual work. 
 
 (c) Whether mind, which by its attributes, and with the 
 help of physical powers, distributes, combines, resolves and 
 transforms matter so as to serve the ordinary purposes and 
 enjoyments of life could be so developed, as to enable it ( a ) to 
 exercise 'those faculties at will in waking moments, which 
 seem so wondrous at times in a sleeping state, such as fore- 
 seeing future events and visiting distant places, &c., and 
 {•ii) to exercise in an embodied state the powers exercised by 
 a disembodied soul. ' 
 
 It was the endeavour of his high mind and genius from 
 such analogies as are mentioned above, to discover the laws 
 by which apparent impossibilities could be made possible, 
 with the view of extending the dominion of human know- 
 ledge ; and, at the same time, to make the new knowledge sub- 
 servient to the attainment of the principal object of human 
 life, namely, of approaching God daily more and more with 
 the humility and reverence of a dutifiiJ son and servant What 
 are these laws, how had they been discovered, and what uses 
 had they been applied to, are the questions which form the 
 subject of this lecture. It is not my purpose to give you a 
 translation of the sutras, but to put prominently before you 
 those only which answer my purpose. Having thus defined 
 to you at the threshold the scope of this paper, I feel myself 
 to a certain extent easy; but considerinjj my own 5ncompe- 
 
 4 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 tcncy I can only say, that my attempt is to be taken in the 
 light 'of a venture and not a promise, to do that justice which 
 the subject deserves. 
 
 To understand the Yoga philosophy — to see the grandeur 
 of the wealth buried therein, it will be necessary (a.) to define 
 clearly what the term Yoga signifies, and (b^ to take the fol- 
 lowing propositions as truths for a time: — _ 
 
 (a) That here exists a Creator and Supreme Ruler of the 
 universe who is perfect in all attributes. 
 
 {b} That there exist also spirits who have divine powers as 
 rulers and controllers of worlds under them. 
 
 {c) That there exists such a spirit as stated above in a nas- 
 cent state in man, capable of infinite expansion in knowledge 
 and powers. 
 
 (d) That matter is under the control of psychic force and 
 intelligence. 
 
 (e) That there exists an intelligent, moral, and psychic 
 bond between the perfect God and all intelligent orders of 
 creation, binding all in a uniform sense or law of love and 
 justice, which becomes more and more perfect, according as 
 souls are nearer to God, and more and more imperfect, accord- 
 ing to their distance from Him. 
 
 (f) That for the existence of thi.s intelligent moral and psy- 
 chic bond, it becomes possible under peculiar circumstance of 
 distress and devotion, to establish an intelligent communication 
 between man and God, and man .and spirits, however remote 
 they may appear to be in the light of our present knowledge. 
 
 ig) That having established such a bond of communication 
 and sympathy between one's self and a spirit whom one takes 
 as his model or standard of individual excellence, it becomes 
 possible for him, according to his sincerity and diligence 
 to acquire all the Bibhuties or wealths* of his modeL 
 
 Let me now, according to my proposal, attempt to define 
 clearly what Yoga is, which is variously understood by various 
 
 s I liavc used this word in the plural number tbronghoat. 
 
( 27 ) 
 
 individuals. The term literally means to join or figuratively 
 "as with God". The Sanskrit lexicon of Professor H. H. 
 Wilson gives twenty-eight significations of Yoga, yet it is 
 divisible into two primary classes, Yoga secular and Yoga 
 spiritual, and comprises divers questions of logic, literature, 
 science, arts, religion and psychology. The Yoga secular gives 
 us an insight into the laws of the combination of matter, en- 
 abling us thereby to trace the true relations and causes of phy- 
 sical phenomena, to enquire logically into quesjtions of divers 
 sciences and arts, to expose tricks and fallacies, so as to arrive 
 at right conclusions, to pry into the laws of luck, &c. Yoga 
 spiritual gives us an insight into the mysterious powers of 
 the human mind, its tendency in a healthy state to release 
 itself from the bondage of matter, and to join with the Great 
 Mind of which it is said to be a part, and the means by which 
 this can be effected. TheRtsMs, who were the early teachers 
 . of Yoga secular, were Ushuna, Bhrihaspati, Indra, Punarbasu, 
 Agnibaish. Those, who first taught Yoga spiritual were Brah- 
 ma, Mahashwari, Shivani, Kapila, Janaka, Bashishta, Jagya- 
 balka and Patonjali. 
 
 The subject of this paper is to deal with Yoga spiritual an-d 
 the subjects connected therewith ; to do which, it will be neces- 
 sary, at first to enumerate the eight principal Bil>/iuties or 
 wealths (powers), which it is one of the chief ends of Yoga to 
 attain. They are As follow : 
 
 1. Anima— Extreme minuteness or invisibility. 
 
 2. Laghima — Extreme lightness or incorporeality. 
 
 3. Mohima. — Illimitable bulk. 
 
 . 4. Prapti — Attaining or reaching a thing. 
 
 5. Prokamya — Fulfilment of every wish. 
 
 6. Bashitya— The power of enchanting, or changing the 
 
 course of nature. 
 
 7. Ishitya— 'Dominion over inanimate or animate nature. 
 
 8. Kama-bashaytya— The accomplishment of every pro- 
 mise or en|agcment. 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 Budha enumerates five Bibhuties or supernatural facul- 
 ties, i. e., excepting the first three of the eight mentioned above 
 {vide Review of L' Histoire du Budhism Indien. Journal 
 Asiatic Society, 1845). 
 
 To a mind trained exclusively to physical enquiry— to a 
 mind given up to the acquisition of wealth or to the enjoyments 
 proceeding therefrom — to a mind, to which the wealth of ima- 
 gination which makes the poets the mterpretors of moral laws, 
 truth, beauty and harmony are denied, these Bibhuties, are 
 prima facie absurd and unfit subjects even for enquiry. It 
 would be indeed as much hard for a person in these days when 
 the systematic study of Yoga has been stopped for hundreds of 
 years, to try to convince another of the posibility of the 
 attainment of the Bibhuties, as it would be for one versed in 
 Geology to establish from isolated data the existence of an 
 ocean* in the Himalayas iu primitive days. We have in onr 
 attempts, as if to grope our way through miles of a subter- 
 raneous passage to get at the vaults and our feeble lights are 
 laughed at and taunted by the stupendous darkness reigning 
 therein. Yet we must proceed. To proceed, it will be neces- 
 sary to bring forward certain facts before you which, it is 
 supposed, suggested to the Rishis the idea and principles of 
 Yoga. They, as far as could be gleaned from various ways, 
 have been put together and are given below : 
 
 (a) Solar rays when concentrated and brought to a suffi- 
 ciently powerful focus, can melt rocks and minerals, f 
 
 Qi) Hybernation of certain animals. \ 
 
 {c) The will-power of a species of snake, known in India 
 as Raj-sap. 
 
 id) The very extraordinary Chaturi or cleverness a 
 
 , Vide Captain Hutton's Geological Bcport. Jonmal Asiatic Society, 1841, 
 I jatha arka rashmi sanjogat arkanto hootasbansm, 
 
 Abikatoti Nykasun Drishtanta sa tu Jogina. 
 X Nasbanti dardurtta shitay faninn pabanasbana, 
 Kursmasoha sliagiiptaro dristtanta jogino mota. 
 
( 29 ) 
 
 woman acquires when she covertly tastes forbidden plea- 
 sures. 
 
 {e) The power of contraction and expansion of bodies by 
 the snakes. 
 
 (/) The steady, long and ardent watehings of a fowler or 
 hunter. ^ 
 
 To adopt the language of the lawyers, the facts stated in 
 (a) and {d) should be read together. The very extraordinary 
 cleverness which a woman a<:quires when her whole soul is 
 brought to a focus for the attainment of one ruling object, such 
 as has been mentioned above — when all obstacles put in her 
 way are surmounted as if with a superhuman power — when 
 privations of food, drink and sleep are never cared for or even 
 thought of — when time and distance are no objects of consi- 
 deration — when she can at will transform a fact into a fable 
 and a fable into a fact, had suggested to the Rishis how much 
 more a mind can do in another way. When it could be brought 
 to a focus for the attainment of the highest spiritual object and 
 aspiration of human life, namely, the wished-for union with 
 God— the source of all Bibhuties. But how small is the active 
 portion of human life in comparison with the greatness of the 
 end aimed at ! To prolong existence, experience has taught 
 them that hybernation or slow respiration is necessary, ^-a les- 
 son learnt from the fact mentioned in {b). I am indebted to 
 Pundit Kalibur Vedantabagish's vernacular edition of Patan- 
 jal Durshan for the subjoined table: — 
 
 Name of 
 
 Number of respirations 
 
 Average length 
 
 animal. 
 
 per minute;. 
 
 of life. 
 Years. 
 
 Hare 
 
 ... 38-39 
 
 8 
 
 Pigeon 
 
 ... 36-37 
 
 8-9 
 
 Monkey 
 
 ... 31-32 
 
 20-21 
 
 Dog 
 
 .. 28-29 
 
 13-14 
 
 Goat 
 
 ... 23-24 
 
 12-13 
 
 Cat . 
 
 ... 24-25 
 
 12-13 
 
( 30 ) 
 
 N ime of 
 
 Number of respirations 
 
 Average length 
 
 animal. 
 
 
 per minute. 
 
 of life. 
 Years. 
 
 Horse 
 
 
 ... 18-19 
 
 48 
 
 Man* 
 
 
 ... 12-13 
 
 100 
 
 Elep{iant 
 
 
 ... IT-I2 
 
 too 
 
 Snake 
 
 
 ... 7-8 
 
 120 
 
 Tortoise 
 
 
 ... 4-5 
 
 .150 
 
 Assuming the table to be tolerably correct, it will show 
 that those animals which respire slowly are the longest lived. 
 This fact, as well as the one mentioned above, are the ground- 
 work of our ancient Yoga system. The first leading principle 
 of a subject having been once dicovered and logically and 
 broadly laid down, the improvements and details are only a 
 question of time, labour and experience. Thus assuming from 
 the datum laid down above of the possibility of great expansion 
 of power, it is not difficult to learn another lesson and then 
 another, namely, the lesson taught by a fowler or hunter. His 
 keen and fixed gaze on one object, his solitariness, his 
 ardent devotion to work, his fixed statue-like posture and his 
 wonderful patience. Indeed, the injtjnction for a Yogi, as 
 laid down in the Shastras teaches us as much. i.e. he is to 
 select a solitary yet a lovely place, a grotto, where he is to 
 perform his Yoga ; a place where no unsightly object, no 
 disturbing sound would break the serenity of his mind, and 
 then he is to fix his eye upon a particular part of his body or 
 object to concentrate his thoughts &c. 
 
 Turning now to the question of Bibhuti, the raj-snake 
 teaches us one of the grandest lessons ever taught, namely, the 
 power of will, the will that brings to it its living food without 
 any other exertion save its own exercise. It will be here inter- 
 esting to describe the method adopted by this species of snake 
 to get its food when hungry. It, in this state, lies dormant 
 and motionless and then gives out a long whistling sound 
 
 • 14 to 16 is the present average numlicr. 
 
( 3t ) 
 
 which, as far as it travels, brings with a psychic force small 
 reptiles to its mouth which its swallows. There was a s'hashan 
 (injunction) at one time amongst us, and not without some 
 wisdom that youthful damsels should abstain from food at night, 
 if they happen to hear the sound of a flute from a distance in 
 the stillness of night. It must be borne in mind that in those 
 remote days the chances of hearing such a sound at night were 
 rare, as the people took to their beds within about two hours 
 after candle-light, and not as now, in these days of theatres and 
 concerts ; and those who dared to play on a flute at night were 
 hunted out and reprimanded by the headman of the locality. 
 I would beg leave here to mention to you an instance of will- 
 power. The story of (Maharshi) George Muller of Bristol, as 
 personally communicated by him on the 19th January' 89 
 is to me a singular instantceof will-power and efficacy of prayer. 
 One' day, when George Muller was a young man, he saw some 
 orphans who were almost perishing in fog and snow. He took 
 pity on them and brought them home to, his wife at a time 
 when he had not suffieient provisions for his own children. He 
 prayed to God for the orphans, and singularly enongh, got 
 sufficient provisions as a present that day. Since then he has 
 been maintaining orphans. His orphanages now, as I have been 
 given to understand are known all over the world and main- 
 tained at an annual cost of about 4 or 5 lacs of Rupees, (and to 
 the glory of God) all this money comes to him from all sides 
 unasked. 
 
 The next lesson which the fact mentioned in («) suggested 
 to early enquirers, was the idea of the first and the third Btbhu- 
 ties, namely, Anima and Mohima, i. e., the power of contraction 
 and expansion of one's body at will. Thus, gentlemen, I have 
 endeavoured to shew to you to a certain extent that our ancient 
 Yoga system was no fairy structure that rose out of a magi- 
 cian's word in the course of a single night. It was a super- 
 structure wisely and cautiously planned, that took centuries to 
 be built, in which all the renowned architects of ancient India 
 
( 32 ) 
 
 took a zealous part, and to which each contributed his own 
 quota of skill and experience, and the result is now the vener- 
 able sombre-looking edifice that repels both the Indian and the 
 foreigner alike to approach, but within it arc scenes of sylvan 
 repose, of love, beauty, harmony and health, of brightness 
 supreme, and treasures such as look down upon golfl and dia- 
 mond as dross. To such scenes then let us repair taking 
 Maharshi Patonjali us our guide to-night. 
 
 The lovely celestial scenes to which we are to be ushered 
 by and by, are not the scenes of the physical world tangible to 
 our physical senses, but of the inner world — a world no less 
 actual than the physical, cognizable by the intuitive perception 
 of the all beauteous mind, and giving rise to, under a variety 
 of circumstances, variety of phenomena that are governed by 
 their own laws — laws that shew the same superiority over 
 those of the physical world, as intelligence over matter, sym- 
 pathy over attraction, and love over cohesion. To ignore these 
 phenomena because they cannot often be read in the light of 
 the hitherto discovered physical laws, is to overlook a part of ' 
 our own existence, to shut the very door of our improvement, 
 to divide as it were one's own dearest relation on earth, the 
 mother, for instance, on the plea that she belongb to the father. 
 Such indeed appear to be the attempts of the physicists who 
 deride the most instructive and glorious records of the visions 
 of the saints, who ridicule the idea of a spirit appearing in its 
 former habits as an illusion, who laugh at the "highest grade 
 of Divine Beatitude" as temporary ihadness. 
 
 It is a known fact that an American Indian can, by the 
 acutencss of his sense of smell, trace an enemy a long way off 
 and "an Arab by his strong power of observation can tell the 
 number of approaching horsemen, where a modern Englishman 
 barely sees a speck on the horizon". It is also a well-establish- 
 ed fact that a written or a printed paper put on the epio-astric 
 region ( the seat of Kula Kundalini shakti) of a mesmerised 
 person in the clairvoyant stage, can be read out by hira correctly. 
 
( 33 J 
 
 and that under, certain circumstances, a man can consciously 
 or unconsciously project his double which has in a large 
 number of cases been seen and tested by eminent personages, 
 for instance, M. Adolphe D'. Assicr, a member of the Bordeaux 
 Academy of Sciences. These are all facts, and as such they 
 cannot be gain-said by any amount of^dverse criticisms, Were 
 these facts not investigated in our own time, any positive allu- 
 sions to them in our Vo£-a shastra would simply have been 
 laughed at, as some of the processes of Yoga are deemed and 
 pronounced as meaningless, such, for instance, the process of 
 fixing the gaze by a Yogioxi the spot between the two eye- 
 brows and pressing the crown of his head at the time of per- 
 forming /a/a, or putting a sweet-scented flower thereon. A 
 glance at the phrenological bust before me, shows that one is 
 the seat of individuality and the other the seat of veneration. 
 
 Thus what are clamoured to be perfectly meaningless, stand 
 to sufficient reason when read in the light bf modern discoveries. 
 The entire range of edifices is divided according to Maharshi 
 Patonjali into four sections ; — the first two of which (the 
 Samadhi and Sadhan sections ) are called the training grounds 
 of the young devotees, which are artistically laid with lovely 
 parterres of the most delicious flowers of all hues. These are 
 the celestial flowers of Ahingsfia, Satya, Astya, Dya, Arjoba, 
 Kshema, Dhriti, Parimitaltar, Showcha and Btamhacharjya.* 
 The walks between the parterres are formed of precious stones 
 of all colours and value, known by the general name of worldly 
 wisdom, and at intervals separate from each other, lovely 
 groves planted with evergreen trees, where a thousand birds 
 
 • Abnegation o£ all desires to hurt or injure any one. 
 Truth defined to be that which tends to do universal good. 
 Abnegation of all wishes to possess another's property. 
 Kindness defined to be the performance of duty to all creatures. 
 
 It is that state of mind in which it has neither inclination, nor disinclination for 
 worldly things. 
 
 Forgiveness defined to be the act of seeing all created beings with equal eye. 
 
 Steadiness in miftortuuc. 
 
 Temperance. 
 
 5 
 
( 34 > 
 
 warble their melodious notes. The groves are ten in nnmber 
 and are called Topiisya, Suntash, Astikya, Dan, Ishwarpuja, 
 Sidhcmta, Sravan, Laj-ja, Motijapa, andjajna. f In the centre 
 stands a lofty don»e of elegant forra, called the donie of sama- 
 dhi, supported by a hundred columns of marble as- white as 
 alabaster and illuminated by night and day by the alvery rays 
 of beings of higher orders who are attracted there by sym* 
 pathy for the devotees. Within ftie dome are to be found 
 arranged on a single piece of cloth of gold the solid likenesses 
 of many of these beings formed of crystals, gold, sflver, porph- 
 yry, agate, &c. Encircling the dome flows a strean?, the waters 
 of which run nectar and are fed by fount in the fourth section. 
 This stream is called the stream of Bkakti or the conjoint 
 stream of faith and love. As you pass these lovely grounds, 
 you see the devotees, some in parterres, some in walks, somq 
 in groves, and some withia the dome. Those on the walks are 
 conversing sweetly and with brotherly love for one another ; 
 some are singing deliciously, but they almost all betray in 
 their walks a certain degree of stiffiiess, shewing either want of 
 courage or son>e unwilingnes s to tread the precious stones of 
 worldly wisdom. In course of time they would accustom them- 
 selves to these walks like those yonder, and, tread the ground 
 with nwjre manly steps and with their heads more divinely erect 
 than at present. Those in the parterres and in the groves 
 wear such benign and sweetly resigned looks that can only be 
 
 External and internal cleanlineHS. 
 
 Asceticism and purity of character, 
 t Devotion. 
 
 Contentmcut, 
 
 Faitlv 
 
 Charity. 
 
 This is a complex term. It means- tlMt the toart should be Icept free from all worliJlineBS*. 
 
 the tongue nnpolluted by a lie and the body unsullied by any desire for hurt or injjKy. 
 
 read ing or listen ing to readings from religions liooks, 
 
 Scuso of shame , 
 
 Sincere desire for performing duties* 
 
 Japa (taking the name of God ) 
 
 Performance of Vedic rites.- 
 
( 35 ) 
 
 compared with those of a young wife who having • sacrificed 
 all foi- her husband, looks with bewitching tenderness into the 
 eyes of her lord, her husband, her all. Their faces are bright 
 with the conscioi*sness of havirjg sacrificed their all of this 
 world for the next, arabitiorl, riches, fame, family and pleasures. 
 Yet how much more happy are those in the dome of Samadki ! 
 
 Happiness like wisdom has its countless folds and grades. 
 To quote a sentiment expressed by one of Bengal's best poet;;, 
 men enjoy here the happiness of the sweetest dreams in their 
 waking hours ; for here they get glimpses of those dear souls 
 lost to them on earth, of forms of loveliness and grace compared 
 to which the best likenesses of the loveliest beauties on earth 
 are but rough sketches ; of hearts more tender in love and 
 * sympathy acute' than the most loving sister, wife or mother. 
 
 Let us here pause a while to hear the words of Maharshi 
 Patoiijali in respect to Samadki and Sadhan. He says : — 
 
 Jogaschitabriti Niradhd. 
 
 Jogd is said to be that state of the mind which is "known 
 by the term Niradha. The questions here are, ist. what is 
 Niradha, and 2nd. what are the other stages ? To be brief 
 Niradha is the 5th. or the last stage in which the mind has 
 no external or internal wants, and is supremely happy. The 
 other stages arfe— 
 
 (a) Khipta. 
 
 (b) Murha. 
 
 (c) Bi-khipta. ' 
 \d) Akagra. 
 
 The first stage is called by the Yogis the insane stage, 
 wherein the mind is never calm and is continually tossed in 
 the sea of worldliness. The second is that stage in which the 
 mind is always clouded by one or more dominant passions, such 
 as anger, lust, convet-ousness, vanity, &c. The third st^ge is 
 like the second with occasional lucid intervals. The one can 
 be fitly compared to continued type of fever, the other to 
 the remittent type. The fourth is that stage in which the 
 
( 36 ) 
 
 mind is steadily centred on one worthy object and does not 
 lose itself in the whirlpool of business. It is the ohject of jioga 
 to calm in the mind in the firststage, and to clear it of world- 
 liness in the second, with the view to attain the fourth and^ 
 fifth stages. Yog-a does not necessarily mean asceticism — King 
 Janaka, who was one of the best of yogis, had a 
 family and a kingdom to look after. With regard to the 
 second and third stages, it is rfecessary to state that a 
 wide generalization of human nature and foibles has shown, 
 that almost all men have in themselves at least one weak- 
 ness, which opens a door for sins to enter in. The man, 
 who is covetous, rarely misses an opportunity^or scruples to 
 take another's property, large or small, if he can coveniently 
 lay his hand upon it To him the largeness of his own property 
 is no consideration whatever, to dissuade him from grasping at 
 the most trifling thing belonging to another ; but tohim probab- 
 ly a lovely woman is no temptation whateyer. The same 
 theory holds good with respect to other passions, anger, lust, 
 vanity, &c. I remember once to have heard of an eastern 
 zemindar, who from wounded vanity, i.e., for not having been 
 offered the first garland in a Sradha Sova to which honour he 
 thought himself to be entitled, vowed then and there the ruin 
 of his adversary by a law-suit, and in attempting to do it, he 
 ruined him as well as himself. Indeed the history of humanity 
 from the earliest age down to our Oivn time, does not furnish 
 us with a sir^le instance of a perfect man on one side, and the 
 most depraved individual without one redeeming quality on 
 the other, Maharshi Dypayana Vysd or Fenelon may be 
 held up as the best types of humanity, but our expectations 
 regarding them are not all satisfied : while on the other hand, 
 the wretch* (a Frenchman) who having commmenced his career 
 by gambling, gradually sold his principles, his conscience, his 
 
 • " Philosophers and Actresses"' is the title o(a book translated from the French into 
 English in which the career of this man is depicted. The book was read by me some years ago and 
 is now lost. 
 
( 37 ) 
 
 religion ; who murdered iiis wife and siillictl his father's good 
 name. [The father cursed and disinUeritcd him, but what of 
 that ?] this man had, however, one thing still to sell, i. e. 
 his country. He entered into a conspiracy, <vas detected and 
 thrown into prison, where by his good looks he seduced the dau- 
 ghter of his jailor to whom I think he was ultimately married. 
 This most depraved of depraved men had yet one redeeming 
 quality. He loved his daughter sincerely, who, for her match- 
 less beauty, became, if I remember rightly, the queen of her 
 country. It is the endeavour of Yoga to control these failings. 
 The means by which, however, the last stage is to be attained 
 is laid down in the following Slokd. 
 
 Sradha Birja smriti somadhi pragya purbaka itarasham. 
 
 T\\zyogi must have in the beginning a faith or sradha in 
 the shastras, in his own work, and in himself. This triple faith 
 at the outset is necessary for self-discipline as well as for 
 success. The faith infuses birJa or strength into the mind of 
 the devotee, and fills him with ardour to pursue his course. 
 His recollection or smriti helps him at this stage to compare 
 notes of what he was and what he is now, and bids him devote 
 himself more zealously to his subject — a course which in its 
 progress cannot fail to produce akagrd or abstraction. As the 
 sdmadhi deepens, and as one by one the landmarks of wordli- 
 ness become more and more faint, and its jarring sounds 
 gradually die away, a new creation with new scenes, new langu- 
 age, new thoughts and aspirations and new delights^ dawns 
 upon the internal eye of the devotee — a new light, soft and 
 serene, without heat and incomparably brilliant — the faintest 
 resemblance of which on earth is the ' St. Elmos' or the 'Holy 
 Light,' that fills the heart of the mariners with joy, safety and 
 hope after the storm, breaks upon him. But in order to attain 
 the fifth stage,a.yogi must have an assurance that God exists, 
 and also that it is possible for him to acquire powers by prayer. 
 The sacred words of Maharshi Patonjali indeed give us that 
 assurance in both respects when he says : — 
 
( 38 ) 
 
 (a) Tatra Niratishoya sarbagatya bijam. 
 
 [Jatpadpadma Sharanat aumnimadi Bhibhutya. 
 
 Bhabanti bhabanamastu Bhutnath sa Bhutaya.] 
 The word iaira signifiss in Him, ?. ^., in God, " Niraiis 
 hya, &c.," mean perfection of all knowledge as exists 
 in the seed. The words are indeed few, but the meaning 
 is great. Man in this world is said to be great, because he can 
 command threefold knowledge, z. e., he can from past experi-' 
 ence and records, will the present, and from the Ipast and 
 present formulate the future. He can do this individually as 
 well as collectively. No other animal to our knowledge has 
 power to do it. Instinct may be complete in its own way, and 
 capable, so to ispeak, of accreted improyement.s, but there is a 
 line which it has not yet crossed, and therefore we say, it cannot 
 cross. Man knows of no such line. Further, his memofy arid 
 reason are not the only exhaustive sources of knowledge. His 
 moral sense, his innate idea of right and wrong, of love, har- 
 mony and health, is another and a better and holier source of 
 knowledge. And knowledge is power, and power wealth. If, 
 for<instance, we say, the British nation is at present the most 
 wealthy nation, we cannot but simultaheously think, that it is 
 the most powerful and at the same time most intelligent. 
 Wealth IS not the result of power, but is another name of power. 
 God in whom this three-fold knowledge exists' in NiratishyA 
 or perfection <(a subject to be discussed afterwards) is logically 
 the most powerfkil and most wealthy. His wealth is not simply 
 natural, but intellectual, moral and physic ; and hence the the 
 commentator very aptly says, that from sharanum or qoclacapla- 
 tion of His lotus foot, Anima&nd other wealths flow. It is a 
 truth of every day experience that an inferior individual par- 
 takes of the virtues of a superior personage when constantly 
 placed together. A man even if he be wicked enough (abso- 
 lute wickedness is unknown as pointed out above to the 
 goodness of God), can, by his subsequent faith in God an d cog- 
 temglation j^jjis goodness, partake according to his merits, of 
 
( 39 ) 
 
 His wealths and necessarily His iinovvledge. The conclusion 
 thus arrived at, has all the force of facts and philosophy. It 
 now remains to be proved that God exists ; and that God is the 
 best knowledge, the best power and the best wealth. The ways 
 adopted by the ancients to prove a proposition, are according 
 to Maharshi Patonjoli 
 
 " Protokshya anumana-gama promanoni." 
 
 (a.) Protokshya, z. £.,*the perception of true knowledge by 
 the senses. 
 
 (d.) Anuman, /. e., a truth arrived at by the combined 
 processes of imagination and reason. 
 
 (c.) Agam, i. e., the testimony of truthful pefsons, 
 
 Our physical senses shew to us ap infinite number of worlds 
 more or less alike, governed by suitable laws, displaying to our 
 mind a wonderful discipline, wonderful power, wonderful intel- 
 ligence, wonderful beauty and wonderful softness and hardness 
 of heart. This law, power, intelligence, beauty and heart are 
 conjointly seen and felt by us every moment, and designated by 
 the term " God " or by a happier term.^^ Ishwara " as amongst 
 us. It is.a mathematical truth that a straight line is the short- 
 est distance between two given points. In proving God, we 
 take the aid of this truth, to prove the Truth, namely, that 
 between our own existenceand attributes collectively, and those 
 of His, the distance is the shortest ; for it takes no time, no 
 aid of learning or genius to say that there is a Creator and 
 Ruler. We care not to ask a Butler or a Huxley to prove or 
 disprove this fact. The mankind that preceeded, the mankind 
 that exist, all say at once when asked, that there is a God, and 
 as all the grand truths in nature are simple, this truth which is 
 the grandest, is the simplest. Those who disbelieve and those 
 who proclaim their disbelief to others, are either perverted in 
 nature or pervertors of truth. We thus know God («) by our 
 senses {b) by our mind and {c) on the testimony of almost all 
 mankind past and present 
 
 With regard to the God's attribute that He is the Best Know-^ 
 
( 40 ) 
 
 ledge, it is the same ' perversion, that led Kapili, the first of 
 historic men, to ascribe vanity to creation, or evil to the nature 
 of God. has led also others to do the same in other ways. It has 
 already beensaid in the opening part of this lecture, that Kapili 
 misconstrued His attributes, for it was notvanity, but love, not 
 materialization but cthcrealization of matter that led Him to 
 create; and as the ethercalization cannot be effected, except gra- 
 dually from lower to higher evolution, the evils of destruction 
 and pain are evils apparent toour short sight and short histoiy. 
 The child that is born of my flesh and blood, of my intelligence 
 and character, becomes a somewhat different being from what 
 I am, say somewhat perverted in nature. I who see him in his 
 present character, and anticipate a worse future, advise, threat- 
 en and chastise to mend him. The rod that I apply occasion- 
 ally with the best of intentions and the best of love is a positive 
 evil to ^« short sight and short history of existence ; but I who 
 have the dutyto mould his future conduct.see therod as a lyeces- 
 sary evil that is to bring about happy change hereafter. The 
 heart that makes the earth yield the sugar.the lily and the rose, 
 that sends the soft southwind to give us "joy, youth and warm 
 desire," cannot.we ask, be the same heart that lets us fall victims 
 to cholera, lightning and tempest. Yet it is so, and in all such 
 mighty contradictions, He is the same loving God ; for geology 
 would shew you at once that the world as it advances in age, 
 wears a serener and a brighter aspect. The existence of 
 (jod and His loving attributes thus discussed, it remains for us 
 to prove the other propositions which we took for granted at 
 the outset. Amongst the first of these, stands the existence of 
 spirit and spirit-control. We have both seen and proved that 
 there is something in us which is more than matter. Call this by 
 any name you please ; we use the commonly accepted term 
 'spirit,' with this comment only, that the Hindus consider that 
 all spirits except God, are to a certain extent material. Of this 
 more than gross matter something, has been seen and tested in 
 various ways, and is a phenomenon as old as man. To ac- 
 
( 41 ) 
 
 knowledge it, is simple ; to deny it, is trouble. This something 
 survives the physical change, called death. All religions tell 
 you that it exists after death in Hades, Hell or Heaven accord- 
 ing to its deserts ; that "gradual progress is its law. The 
 Hindu philosophy which is a part of the Hindu religionj 
 adds something more definitely (I do not know whether any 
 one else has read our shastras as I have). It says that this 
 something exists neither for torture in Hell, nor for enjoy- 
 ments in Heaven, but passes through these stages as an appren- 
 tice to qualify itself for higher powers and higher appoint- 
 ments, namely, for creating worlds and controlling them. 
 The venerable Kapila told this pretty clearly, the Tantras speak 
 of this covertly, the Surja Shidhantd (a Hindu Astrono* 
 mical work) gives to some stars the names of Rishis, such as 
 Agusta, ^he Saptorshi mandle,&c. Space is infinite — matter 
 is infinite — the laws of nature are fixed, the principles are 
 uniform, and it therofore deducts no glory from the Almighty 
 to say, that the venerable Agusta has created a Loka of his 
 own and peopled it, any more than when we build cottages> 
 ships and palaces, control our own family, devise plans for our 
 own comfort, &c; To say that we shall exist after expiation 
 as pensioners for enjoyments only, and for no action whatever, 
 is a theory repugnant, alike to reason and experience. 
 Suppose a real ghost appears before you, dressed in a suit 
 of clothes he used to wear when in life on this earth, and 
 with spectacles and stick also. You ask where could he have 
 got these things outside our limited area ? Yet you see thenl, 
 others also see them. There can, therefore, be no mistake 
 about them. The, answer is that the ghost has created them 
 for a time from matters less gross, by his then higher powers 
 of combination and transformation of matter. 
 
 With regard to the possibility of establishing a bond of 
 sympathy and communication between man and spirit, and 
 man and God, under peculiar circumstances of intensity of grief 
 and devotion, history as well as our individual life furnish us 
 
 6 
 
( 42 ) 
 
 with many notable instances. Consolation* comes in exact 
 words, whether in dreams or waking hours. Call these 
 words by any name you please. Call them ^^sk^call them 
 ' Inspiration', the fact remains a faqt. The consolation comes, 
 tKe future is laid bare, and new ways are shewn. For any one 
 to say that he does not believe, because he has no such expe- 
 rience, is not to speak either rationally or logically. There are 
 happinesses alloted to the poor which the rich cannot possibly 
 expect to enjoy. There are happinesses allotted to the devotion- 
 al which the undevotional cannot, by any right, hope to attain, 
 any more than a grammarian to enjoy the delights of a poet's 
 imagination. To believe, the alternative course left for the 
 individual is either to turn himself devotional or to hear with 
 respect the statements of the devotional — the same respect 
 which the undevotional expect the world to show to him, z.e., to 
 his words, his theories or his discoveries. Nor is it rational 
 either for a person, however deeply versed he may be in his 
 own department of science, to leap out of his stage at times to 
 ridicule or comment on the statements of others who have 
 given a considerable portion of their lives and labours to estab- 
 lish for themselves an authority for speaking definitively. 
 
 Let us now pass to the description of powers attainable by 
 jfO£^a — leaving out the process by which they are attainable, 
 as a mere narration of them is sufficient to form the subject of 
 another paper. Besides the eight principal Bibhuties men- 
 tioned before, we find other powers attainable hyyoga some of 
 which are given below : — 
 
 (i) By regulation of breath and concentration of mind on 
 the epiigastric region, s.yogi can get a knowledge of the inter- 
 nal organs of the body. 
 
 • He who, wearied with the flght with the powers of darkness, asks himself in a solitary place 
 "Is it all for nothing? Shall we indeed be overthrown? He does find something which justifies 
 such thoughts. In such a moment of utter sincerity, when a man has bowed his own soul bef oro 
 the immensities and eternities, a presence in which his own poor personality is shrivelled into 
 nothingness, arises within him and says as plaiiily as words can say "I am with thee and lam' 
 greater than thou."— Ethics on Eeligion, by W. K, OlifEord, F. B. S. 
 
( 43 ) 
 
 (2) By a similar process and concentration of mina on the 
 interparietal region, he can see spiritual beings and hold com- 
 munications with them. 
 
 (3) By a similar process and concentration of mind on 
 the sternal regions, he can know the thoughts of other men. 
 
 (4) By intense and long concentration of mind on the 
 sun he can get a universal knowledge of things. 
 
 (5) By a similar concentration on the frontal region he 
 can perceive a light within him— a light similar to the first 
 light of day, by the aid of which, nature and her laws are 
 revealed to him. 
 
 "Tell me Kshetra," once asked my official superior, holding 
 certain papers in hand, " whether I am to consider , these as 
 rules or waste papers ?" We ask a similar question here. Tell 
 us, gentlemen, whether we are to consider these writings as a 
 systematic attempt to delude mankind with narration of nothing 
 but myths, or do they contain things substantial, worthy of 
 our confidence, hope and respect ? So far as we have seen 
 and discussed, both the principles of yogai2i.nd the possibility 
 of the attainment of certain powers are within the bounds of 
 facts and philosophy. There are certain still higher powers 
 which are not merely uncommon, but transcendental, and 
 are by common consent ascribed and ascribable to God. 
 We stop here, and are either averse or dare not to add 
 the words " to the godly also" after the word God. The 
 reason is obvious ; we do not see such men often enough to 
 produce a belief. But the limited experience of one time 
 should not be the basis for forming and passing a sweeping 
 judgment over another period. How little does modern Europe 
 know even of the Human history ? We have recorded evi- 
 dence of scientific value to show that doses of medicines of a 
 Vedik man were four times as much as those for one of our own 
 time ; that 4 seers of broth was the light food prescribed for 
 the weak stomach pf a patient ; that 8 totals ol,ghee (clarified 
 butter) was also prescribed dsAnufan or adjunct to a medicine; 
 
( 44 ) 
 
 that men lived in the Saty yoga i.e., before the first great 
 cataclysm, up to 400 years ; and that as every century rolls by, 
 a diminution of one year takes place in the average longevity 
 of mankind. Calculating from this hypothesis formed on con- 
 siderable observations by ancient medical men, man's appear- 
 ance on the globe, would be as old as 30,000 yearr. These are 
 all astounding statements to be found in the pages of ancient 
 India " rich with the spoils of time''. Again Kapila, the bold- 
 est of pilosophers and a man hardest to believe a fact, acknovv-- 
 ledges without a comment the existence of spirits and the pos- 
 sibility of communication with them, because such communi- 
 cations in his time" were too common to admit of any precise 
 mention. Of the second great Bibhuty namely, Laghima or 
 extreme lightness, we know as a fact in our days that a man, 
 while in a sitting posture can by kunibJmk or the pactice of 
 holding breath, rise to the extent of a foot from the ground. 
 Of the first and the third 'Bibhuties, i. e., of extreme minute- 
 ness and illimitable bulk, we are inclined to think that they 
 are possible with those who can project their doubles at will, 
 instances of which are now not unknown in Europe and Ame- 
 rica. Of the 4th and Sth Bibkuties i. e., attaining or reaching 
 a thing and fulfilment of every wish, we believe they depend 
 chiefly on the will power of an individual. Of the 6th and 
 7th, namely, the powers of changing the course of nature 
 and of dominating over animate and inanimate creation, 
 human history furnishes us with many remarkable instances. 
 They are born of extraordinary development of Tej (psychic 
 force) in man produced by the government of passions and 
 devotion, which can make or unmake things at will, which 
 according to Kapila marks out a spiritual from a natural 
 man, giving him power to control nature instead of being 
 controlled by her. It is this Tej which by a word of 
 mouth heals a sick man, changes a British coin to an 
 American dollar, transforms small gravels to fine pearls 
 turns water to piilk,- milk to champagne at will. These; 
 
( 45 ) 
 
 exhibitions of power or enchantments are lasting or tempo- 
 rary according to the psychic development of the Yogi. 1 here 
 beg leave to cite two very remarkable instances of the two des- 
 criptions of power mentioned above — instances that can be 
 proved at any time by appealing to facts, and to the testimony 
 of respectable witnesses, Babus J. N. Banerjee and R. N. Bose, 
 who communicated them to me. The first was the case of a 
 lady now living, who is ftie sister-in law of my friend, Babu 
 J. N. Banerjee. This lady had several issues, every one of 
 which died a few months after birth. Once at Kalighat there 
 came a renowned ^o^« to whom her case was narrated by one 
 
 / of her relations. He took pity on her and agreed to perform 
 a Homa for her benefit. After the promised performance of 
 the ceremony at the temple, he declared that the next is^ue 
 would be a male child who alone would live to an old age, 
 and that her subsequent issues would be short-lived like her 
 previous offsprings. After the predicted birth of the son, 
 he came to bless the mother and the child in the confinement 
 room. He was offered a sum of money which he indignantly 
 spurned. This son, Babu Rangolal, is now living, and the 
 fact can be verified at any time, and the other fact also that 
 the subsequent issues of the lady were short-lived. The next 
 instance was narrated by Babu R. N. Bose, who went to 
 Kota at the invitation of the Maharaja of the place. While 
 at Kota as a guest of the Maharaja, he expressed a wish 
 to see two yogis near Adhurshila, a place well-known to all 
 as a holy spot. The Maharaja sent a detachment of a dozen 
 infantry soldiers, two elephants and a number of joze/arj, as • 
 the place was infested with man-eaters. Thus equipped, the 
 
 . gentleman went on the bank of a stream which divided him 
 from the yogis. He saw one in Samadhi, i.e., dead to 
 external nature, the other in Dhyan, who could only be roused 
 by the simultaneous firing of several guns, a course necessary 
 for getting his permission, as he had two big tigers about 
 him. The guns were fired, he opened his eyes, looked at the 
 
( 46 ) 
 
 gentleman and by the waving of his hand bade him to retire. 
 His wish was obeyed. Of the 8th Bibhutee I beg to say that 
 I do not clearly understand it. I therefore leave it without 
 a comment. On the subject of other powers mentioned 
 before, it may be observed that they were all along considered 
 as totally ridiculous, until lately the mesmeric experiments 
 made by competent persons in Paris have shewn, that 
 concentration of mind on the epigastric region or on the 
 Kulakundalini chakra of the ancients as stated before, can 
 impart knowledge of many hidden things such as obscure 
 diseases and their remedies, &c. By parity of reason it would 
 be simply unphilosophical to denounce the other sources of 
 knowledge, for instance, by concentration of mind to the in- 
 terparietal region, a person can have perception of unseen 
 beings. To test, it would be necessatry for one to go on 
 with the alphabet oiyoga. 
 
 The question next is, granting that the attainment of some 
 of the powers mentioned above, is possible even for family- 
 men who are sincere enOugh, what possible public benefit is 
 likely to be effected by their cultivation ? We have now tele- 
 graphic lines to give us information of distant relations with 
 incredible speed, railways to carry us to distant places^ blood- 
 hounds and detectives to fitid out secret murdprs and missing 
 things, scientific instruments and scientific medicines to detect 
 obscure diseases and to cure them, and have hopes of a still 
 glorious future. As for communications with unseen beings, 
 were they to be real, they are not universally considered as 
 ■•necessary in the present state of our existence. The question 
 is thus difficult of solution. It is as if an attempt is to be 
 made to encounter an adversary with his own weapon and on 
 his own ground. But we have other ways of proving their 
 utility than those explained above, except of course in respect 
 to the command of futurity of which no human science will 
 ever have any cognizance whatever. It has been said by an 
 ancient Greek writer with great truth that " it is by means of 
 
( 47 ) 
 
 wealth that virtue becomes a public good," i.e., wealth is to be 
 allied to virtue to be of public good. Treasures hidden in 
 earth or treasures kept in a stingy hand come to no public 
 benefit. The wealths acquired hy yoga are no secret treasures. 
 The greatest jdT^ij were all philanthropic and public-spirited 
 men. They made no attempt to shut out their treasures from 
 public view. Even a Sudra in their days could learn yoga. 
 They did something more. They allied yoga to religion to 
 confer many inestimable boons on the public. These boons 
 are : — 
 
 1st. Health and longevity. 
 
 2nd. Stability of society. 
 
 3rd. A tangible knowledge of the unseen to diminish 
 crimes, and to encourage every individual member of society 
 to do good to his neighbours. 
 
 4th. Development and expansion of psychic powers. 
 
 The regulation of diet and the government of passions and 
 breath required by yoga, are things too universally known to 
 contribute to health and long life, to demand any fuller expla- 
 nation from me. There are at present in our society no more 
 miserable intelligent beings than those known by the term — 
 " Brahman Pundits." These men live in huts that admit sun, 
 rain, fog and cold throughout the year. They live on food 
 which they cannot previously wish for, or anticipate. They 
 have no fixed income and know not what to-day's sun may 
 bring them ; then added to these misfortunes they are continu- 
 ally subject to the buffetings of Mill and Huxley-reading men. 
 Yet these men are, according to the proverb, like crows, never 
 known to die and keep up good health, and why? because they 
 do not in the first place touch unpermitted and undrgestible 
 food, such as mutton, beef and whiskey ; and, in the second 
 place, they govern their passions and are required to govern 
 their breath at least during the times of their three prayers in 
 the course of a day. The stability of a society depends very 
 much on religion. Individual experience as well as historical 
 
( 48 ) 
 
 facts corroborate the assertion. We have never seen an'indivi-.. 
 dual man, and individual family or an individual nation going 
 down hopelessly having religion for a support. As a man 
 cannot live in society without daily being of some use to it, 
 as a flower cannot bloom without purifying the surrounding 
 atmosphere, so a pious man cannot perform his acts of piety 
 without benefitting his family and his neighbours, and purify- 
 ing the atmosphere of his society. Predominance in numbers 
 of such men, gives strength and stability to society, which 
 neither science, literature nor philosophy or all combined can 
 give, as has been repeatedly exemplified in the history of the 
 French nation. We here beg leave to insert a page from 
 English history. Such pages can be found in the histories of 
 other nations, but our space would not allow us more. 
 
 " The Saxon race had become degenerate— the race which 
 could boast of Alfred and Athelstan which had produced 
 heroic kings and sent forth saintly men to bear the Christian 
 faith into other lands. The best part of the old Saxon 
 character was wasted away in widespread licentiousness and 
 debauchery. The people had grown to be sensual and self- 
 indulgent, and riotous revelling was their habit with no better 
 excuse, than the Danes had taught them to drink deep. 
 Danish vice became also the Saxon vice, and, worse hundred- 
 fold, a horrid slave trade shows into what deep and cruel 
 profligacy England at the time was sunk « * « 
 
 • **»*«» There 
 
 was such depravity in England, that though the sensual deaf 
 in their debauchery and wickedness heard it not, the cry went 
 up to Heaven for vengeance. The national corruption seemed 
 to provoke national retribution, and when it came, it was in 
 fierce and bloody chastisement * « » « i» « Yet 
 they «vould not rouse themselves ; the wine cup was too sweet, 
 the couch too soft, "the joys of the ball" the story, the song, 
 the 'gleebeams' of the harp— these gladdened their days, and' 
 to these, in spite of Danes and St. Dunstan they clung faster 
 
( 49 ) 
 
 and fasfbr. The dream went on, the lethargy became heavier. 
 At last the stroke came, more terrible in its reality than the 
 most anxious had imagined. It was not merely a change of 
 kings or families ; not even an invasion or ordinary conquest ; 
 it waa a rooting and tearing up, a wild overthrow of all that 
 was established and familiar in England. " 
 
 The yoga gives to the devotees a tangible knowledge of 
 the future and unseen as nothing else, not even religion can 
 give ; and inasmuch as all men have a natural curiosity for 
 such knowledge, a judicious cultivation df it, is by no means 
 either unpermitted or improper. On the contrary as such 
 knowledge becomes a part of our education and more and 
 general, it acts upon public morality, health and longevity 
 more and mo^^e beneficially. 
 
 To return to the main subject, s.^ ^& yogi advances in 
 power, his heart is filled with joys. Yet what are these joys 
 in comparison with those of Kybalya. The world he has left 
 behind. Its landmarks have faded from his sight. The ordi- 
 nary heavens which delight ordinary spirits he has passed. 
 Better heavens with serener joys and fiigher spirits, and still 
 better, dawn upon him. He enjoys the scenes for a while. 
 He moves on. He moves up; and as he moves, he loses self. 
 His own light is merged in infinite light ; his own love in in- 
 finite love. He sees all suns — all s;pace— all laws— all glories 
 in God, and in ecstasy exclaims - I and Bramhd are one. " , 
 
 LECTURE-III. 
 
 ON THE EARLY TANTRAS OF THE HINDUS. 
 
 ^Rmd at the general meeting^ of the Calcutta Psycho-Religious Society, 
 
 on the 30th May, 1890.) 
 
 [ Dedicated to Babu Narendra Nath Sen as a taken of raspect and 
 
 gratitude,'] 
 In my address on the spirit-worship of Ancient India I 
 ■had X)Ccasion to take a superficial and a hasty glance of the 
 
 7 
 
( 50 ) 
 
 last efforts of Hindu genius, namely, the Tantras, Indeed, 
 the subject of my discourse then did not require' more, and 
 while my paper on Patanjal Yoga Philosophy was read at a 
 public meeting, I was requested by the Chairman to dive 
 deeper into the Tantras, and to give to another meeting the 
 result of my researches in a definite and agreeable shape, 
 what has hitherto been considered a disjoined mass of matters. 
 The task thus set on me was not only exceedingly arduous, 
 but at the same time hazardous ; as there are so many con- 
 flicting opinions in regard to the most important texts and 
 their ages, and so many interpolations have taken place in 
 the originals, that one is conFounded to know where is the 
 gold, and where the dross. 
 
 In the first place, it is certainly hazardous in the midst of 
 a general belief to doubt that the Tantras were actually the 
 words of Shiva, whose humble worshipper I am, or that 
 the writers of them were all inspired men. A few of them 
 might have been, — and these were the earlier writers, who 
 gave their whole soul to their subjects. I have, therefore, 
 advisedly put the words "the early Tantras oi the Hindus," 
 as the subject of this paper : for the writers of the MaTiomedant 
 period and of sometimes later were low, half-educated men, 
 who imitated the brilliant writers of the earlier time, namely, 
 between the third and eighth centuries after the Birth of 
 Christ, and introduced suj^cts un^ cloak ofrey^pn, which 
 pampered the appetites of the lowest description of men. 
 
 To understand the Tantras it would be necessary to 
 understand the state of the H|ndJ^^ society of the time when 
 they were publicly made known and introduced, without which 
 the labour and researches of the original authors cannot be 
 duly appreciated. To attempt to give a short sketch of the 
 time would certainly be interesting for its own sake ; but in 
 order to make it interesting, it would be necessarj*' for one 
 to shut his eyes altogether to the opinions expressed by other 
 writers on the subject, and to draw his sketch from the im- 
 
( 51 ) 
 
 pressions left after a perusal of the Tantras themselves, and 
 of works written about the same time. 
 
 That the age of the Tantras was the age of reformation, 
 there is hardly a"'semblance of doubt. "But the reforms in- 
 troduced by the Tantriks, must not be judged by the light 
 and standard of modern civilization. They should be judged 
 according to the depths and descriptions of abuses they 
 sought to remove on one 'side, and the idea of public good, 
 that actuated them to set themselves to the task on the other, 
 bearing in mind, at the same time, the extensive nature of 
 work they had to grapple with, (ist) in collecting and arrang- 
 ing systematically the wisdoms of by-gone ages ; (2nd) in 
 purging whatever was considered unattainable and, false, 
 whether in religion, science or politics ; and (3rd) in imparting 
 into these subjects fresh ideas and experience that appeared 
 suitable to them. They did all these at a time when they 
 were most needed, namely, when the Hindu society was 
 completely unhinged ; when though the purity and complete- 
 ness of the Brahmanical. religion triumphed over the imper- 
 fections and one-sidedness of the religion of !^uddha, yet the 
 corrupted rites, the false ideas, and the dogmatic tenets, 
 which human selfishness begat in course of ages in connec- 
 tion with the former religion, which led men to practise 
 social abuses and crimes, were evils so common and so 
 rampant that the victory achieved would not have been worth 
 the name, and would not have been able to hold on for a 
 long time, had not the mysterioup band of Tantriks which 
 had a representative in the Court of .Jdagadlia in the person 
 of Siddh d Ni ^ gafjund stepped in from their secret abodes in 
 mountain fastnesses, and took up the task of xgfcyfflaiipn in 
 the ways mentioned above. 
 
 To put clearly the whole matter before the public, it would 
 be necessary for me to take a retrospective view of the ages, 
 known as the middle ages of India, very probably commenc- 
 ing from the loth to 6th 9entury before the Christian era, 
 
( 52 ) 
 
 and of the period in which the reh'gion of Buddha triumphed 
 over the Brahmanical religion, and held sway over the minds 
 and hearts of the people for more than ten centuries. It is a 
 fact, known perhaps to all educated Hindus that what was 
 the task of the entire band_,_o£.JTa|itrik;s at one time, was 
 exactly the task of Maharshi Vyasa, the myriad-minded 
 author of Mahabharatd, the Gita and the Purans. The very 
 rude__shock,vvhich Kapila, the a&thor of Sankhyi Philo- 
 sophy, and Brihaspati, the author of the Charvak or the 
 Atheistical school, gave to the authority of thcjyedas, would 
 have been quite sufficient to shatter the bonds of Hind u 
 s ociety at a time, when it was only tending to advance to- 
 wards higher civilization, had not the great author, thinker 
 and reformer came in opportunely, and acted as a mediator 
 by explaining to the satisfaction of all parties the apparent 
 incongruities in beliefs in matters of religion, by inventing 
 homely, and at the same time, thrilling stories to remind the 
 kings, the ministers and the warriors of their respective duties ', 
 to show to the judges the ways to justice ; to teach every 
 citizen his domestic and social duties, and to point out to the 
 /(Sg'/i- the right path to heaverrand beatitude. To him almost 
 entirely is due the stability of the Hindu society, its sacred 
 ' laws and rites, and the glories of Hindu civilization. Had he 
 been less than what he was, the Hindu name would likely 
 have oeen extinct. The authority of the Vedas, the code of 
 Manu, the transcendental philosophy of the Vedanta of 
 Gotamd and Gonad would not all have been able to keep the 
 tottering mansion from falling, had^heiwt wonted systemati- 
 cally, arduously and cordially to maintain the sacredtiegs-ot 
 Jlj;£-i^'^iSHiidSffiSStic ties which bind a citizen to his relations 
 at home, and to his neighbours in brotheriy love and charity. 
 To be compelled to state that sychti5S,5verg^reaking at the 
 time when the Maharshi took up the task of reformation, 
 •would only be acknowledging a fact The canker of dis- 
 belief had then already entered the flowerstalk of the Hindu 
 
( 53 ) 
 
 society, and commenced its work of destruction. The very 
 unrestricted liberties with which the females loved and moved, 
 
 the several descriptions of marriage, acknowledged and held 
 good by society, the habit of drinking som raska {or Jags, and 
 the very delicate notion of gallantry with which the great and 
 the brave always ministered to every whim of the fair, pro- 
 duced results which can better be imagined than described. 
 Gently and cautiouslji by the threats of hell to the wicked, 
 by the reward of peace and heaven to the good and the 
 pious, by the magical influence of his stories, and by whole- 
 some lessons on love, justice, temperance and chastity, the 
 Maharshi tried to bring order to society ; and in this he 
 gre'atTy"" succeeded ; but the adder of selfishness lay only 
 half-stunned. It gathered strength as time passed, till it rose 
 to high vigour and mad fury. The innocent Pashakrira 
 led to furious gamblings. The amours of heroes furnished 
 precedents for licentiousness. The poets and minstrels fanned 
 flames of universal love, and sang the deeds of gallantry — of 
 fair princes and brave kings— of dimpled maids and hand- 
 some heroes — of brilliant Soyanibhoras\ and gay tournaments. 
 The worship of Shakti\ or power gave license to the slaugh- 
 ter of animals for food. The accumulation of gold gave a 
 taste for refined luxuries.§ The judges winced on their benches 
 at crimes. The priests were degraded. Added to these, 
 the slaughter of animals increased so fearfully, that the 
 preachings of Gotami Buddha's doctrine of universal kind- 
 ness, rang as a celestial music, the message of peace, good- 
 will and love. The kings gradually favoured the new reli- 
 gion. The people saw in it the hand of Providence. By its 
 
 t The public choice of a husbaufl by a princess or a girl from a number of suitors asssmbled 
 for the purpose. 
 
 * The female deities, such as Kali, &c. 
 § Kisha-sasanfca Kshata Mia Bajya 
 Kachit bichitram Jala-jautra mandiram 
 Moni prako Sarasam sa chandanam. 
 Again — 
 Priyamtilcha ote'ia bikampita mudhn. 
 
( 54 ) 
 
 influence, so runs the story, the robbers turned themselves to 
 good citizens. Thus the religion of_Bucy]ia held a sway of 
 more than ten centuries in many parts of India, and the tide 
 of Brahrnanical reli gion ebbed considerably away. Then 
 slowly came a reaction. The rage of kindness was carried to 
 such extremes that no business could be done at night, lest 
 the burning of lamps would attract flies, and that men would 
 not move in day-light without a dsster attached to their 
 wearing cloth, dusting tjie road as they passed. Moreover, 
 after the novelty and fascination of the new religion had pass- 
 ed, the people saw in it the much-thrashed wisdoms of ' 
 Kapila, white-washed, coloured and passed for new. It had 
 not the every-day charm, the sublimity and wholesomeness 
 of the Mahavaratd, not to speak of the Vedanti Philosophy 
 or of the Gita. At this juncture, there came to public esti- 
 mation and public admiration a human prodigy in the person 
 of a boy of 17 or 1 8 years of age, who, before that age, had 
 not only finished his high education, in grammar, rhetoric, 
 philosophy, the Vedas and Upanishads, but was himself 
 known as an author of some writings of profound scholar- 
 ship, such as had staggered the most learned men of the time. 
 This boy, Shankaracharjya left home for DigbijoyW or victo- 
 rious campaignswitK^ the"venerable Pundits and Buddhistic 
 priests at the Courts ef several kings. He went from Court 
 T:o Court, and travelled over a large part of India amidst 
 considerable dangers to life, to point to the kings the incom- 
 pleteness and imperfections of Buddha's religion. He argued 
 with the best Buddhistic missionaries, and routed them. The 
 tide of royal favour turned. Shankaracharjya was almost 
 deified, but he had still enough to do. He wrote commentaries 
 on Vedanta ; and before the age of thirty- two, this distinguished 
 author, this charming poet, this voluminous commentator and 
 the victorious hero of the most renowned intellectual battles, 
 finished his earthly career. Brahmanism triumphed again all 
 
 II XJdyanacharja and another were also in the field. 
 
( 55 ) 
 
 over India. The Buddhists were expelled with the exception of 
 a few sectsU which still hold a modified form of Buddha's reli- 
 gion. With the Brahmanism the old habits gradually returned. 
 The wine-cup was considered too sweet, the fair face too 
 strong, the meat, the Pasakritas and moonlight songs too de- 
 licious to be given up. The people fell once more. Tney were 
 falling from the time \\ihen the novelty and fascination of 
 the new religion had passed. The Brahmanical religion 
 served as a mask for the self to assert its powers. The ethics 
 of bye-gone ages were sold at a considerable discount, and 
 souls were bartered cheaply and freely. So indeed were the 
 people addicted to self, that the Tantriks had to sfive them 
 at first what they wanted. They gave them the wine-cup. 
 They gave them the woman. They gave them the indulgence 
 of meat and moonlight songs, and they gave them at the same 
 time wisdom and religion. How these apparent incongruities 
 were reconciled would, indeed, be a curious page to read. 
 
 There is an English proverb, which says, "despise no 
 condition of life lest it happens to be your own." What is 
 truth in individual life, is truth also in the life of a nation, 
 which has its ups and downs, its health and diseases, its 
 growth and decay. The metaphorical battle between the 
 Deity and the devil in the sublime epic of Milton is an every- 
 day fact in the history of an individual life as well as in the 
 history of a nation, and as sure as the sun shall light the 
 heavens to-morrow, so sure is the ultimate victory of religion 
 over selfishness. Man may ever fight hard to substitute self 
 or science for God, but the shadow will never pass for subs- 
 tance. He is only a creature of yesterday with an impene- 
 trable mystery hanging before, and an impenetrable mystery 
 having behind. His vaunted theories in relation to nature 
 based on small and imperfect gleanings from her untold pages, 
 the nine-tenths of which relate to the earth, which is but a 
 drop in the universal sea of worlds, can hardly warrant him to 
 
 1 Jaynii Sects. 
 
( 56 ) 
 
 be the dictator of the universe, where he has been in due 
 season brought in to live, learn and enjoy, with no better 
 prospects here for the future species than to be ruled by the 
 superior beings of the next geological epoch, now " hidden 
 in the Majesty of nature," as the. opossums, the hogs and 
 horses, the once lords of the Oolitic era, and of the Miocene 
 period of the Tertiary age are ruled by him. His cavillings 
 about the conception of the glorious Majesty of the Author 
 of the Universe, remind us of the story of some blind men's' 
 dispute about the size and conception ofan elephant in which 
 each individual tried, by the force of blows, to convince 
 another, that he'was'no larger and no broader than the part 
 which each one had singly and separately felt by the touch of 
 his hand. His iniaginatiojj— tha^ which he is so 
 
 proud, is so^^Jijnitgd^ that he can never conceive anythinsf 
 beyond the existing orders of things. Instead of, therefore, 
 falling in humble adoration for the truths vouchsafed to him, 
 his uncontrolable vanjty raises him superior to his Maker, or 
 induces him to banish Him from the Universe. Well have 
 the Rishis of old said that there is no greater enemy of man 
 than his own_vanitj^ The pre-Tantrik age of India may well 
 serve a lesson to the India of the day. 
 
 Unlike the scientists of the day who separate religion from 
 science, these Tantriks sought na^j:e to understand religion. 
 Instead of, therefore, being elated .with an undue notion'^or 
 self-worth by any happy discovery of truth in the, arena of 
 nature, they sought to glorify God for such discovery. Indeed, 
 so self-sut rendering were they, that they a scribed to their 
 and my God, Shiva, all their discoveries in the departments of 
 medicine, animal magnetism, psychology and general know- 
 ledge of things. Nor were their discoveries inconsiderable, 
 considering the age in which they lived. They were the first 
 who taught us the use of several minerals and metals in 
 medicine, and the means and methods by which they are to 
 be sublimated. They discover,ed the medicinal properties of 
 
( 57 ) 
 
 a large number of non-officinal plants, and taught us the 
 combination of various drugs for the purpose of medicine. 
 They taught us the existence of a subtle forggjji^man, known 
 at present by the term ' animal-magnetism ', with which he 
 can charge another, and lae charged. They taught us that 
 by this force, he can attract or repel another, and be attracted 
 or repelled himself They taught us that by this mysterious 
 force, one can work an 'immense amount of good or an 
 immense amount of evil* on another. They taught us also 
 the uses of this force for the various purposes of life. They 
 taught us in a way that satisfied them of the existence of the 
 soul, which cannot be destroyed by any known earthly agents 
 of destruction. They taught us also of the existence of 
 several orders of etherial beings, mentioned in the Vedas and 
 Puranas, and the means by which they can be communicated 
 with. They did more. They contributed to the existing 
 stock of knowledge many interesting informations on things 
 to add to the curiosity and comforts of life. 
 
 Who were these Tantriks ? What were the general 
 features of their religious belief? What reforms did they in- 
 troduce, and what useful discoveries they make, are the 
 subjects of my present address. It is my endeavour to touch 
 on all these points to the best of my ability, from inform- 
 ations available to me. As things stand at present, many 
 important Tantras are missing. Many are in a mutilated 
 state, and many are disgraced by the interpolations of la|er 
 writers, who, as occasion required, passed off their own 
 writings as texts to carry out their selfish views and purposes. 
 
 In the Sunkerdigbijoy we find, distinct allusion to these 
 Tantrikst whe were partially represented as Kapaliks. Who 
 are the Kapaliks? The Kapaliks, as defined by the late 
 Professor H. H. Wilson, are the worshippers of Shiva of the 
 left-hand order, characterized by carrying a half of the skull 
 
 » Maran, Uohatan, Stambhun, &o.— 
 
 t Athatrina Kuragraai prosthai Kapalika Bijatany. 
 
 8 
 
( 58 ) 
 
 as a cup for drinking spirituous liquors. Properly speakiag, 
 the Tantriks are the worshippers of Sakti or Power. They 
 are also called Kouliks for their devotion to Nature. To 
 represent their idea of creation, let us conceive a geometrical 
 figure, such as an Epicycloid. Now an Epicycloid is a curve, 
 generated by a point in the circumference, which rolls about 
 the circumference of another. Let DB be the generating- 
 circle, rolling round the circle AD. Divide half of DB into 
 any number of equal parts, and the quadrant DC of the large 
 circle AD into the same number of equal parts. Through 
 these points as K, M, N, O, and C, draw radial lines from the 
 centre A. From A with AB describe a semi-circle BC. 
 From the points where the radial lines cut this, describe a 
 series of circles equal to the generating one. Well, then, the 
 point A in the great circle of creation AD, is the Om of the 
 Vedas, the creative will of the Almighty, which supposes the 
 Hindu Trinity, the spirits of creation, preservation and 
 destruction, the three in one, and the one in three, as the 
 morning, the noon and the night following one another in 
 successive order, and no one can be said to be either the 
 cause or the effect of the others. Apropos to the . divine 
 command, the Tantriks say let DB be the generating circle, 
 rolling round the circle of creation AD. What is the 
 generating circle here ? It is the Mohamya, the dual cause 
 of the universe, the spiritf and the matter,§ the man and 
 woman, the subjective and objective causes.lT How sublimely 
 and beautifully this subject is described in the Chandi of 
 Markandya, when Samadhi, a Vyasa, who, when he was 
 robbed by his wife and sons, and driven from his house, asked 
 Maidha why, after all that had happened, his heart still 
 fondly yearned to see their faces ? The sage replied it was 
 Mohamya? Who was Mohamya? asked Samadhi. How 
 
 X Ja-devi Surbabhutasu ChaitaDytabhi dhiatiiai, 
 § -Bisritam Sritirapatam stbitirupachapalatiay. 
 II Tayiba dharjatai Surbum Tayitat Srijatay jagat. 
 1 Fakritastancha Surtaashya Gunatray Bhlbhabini. 
 
( 59 ) 
 
 came she to exist, and for what purposes ? The sage reph'ed 
 when in the beginning, the Great God, Vishnu, was absorbed 
 in Yaga-nidm, or in his creative will and Bramha, the creative 
 principle as also the matter had already sprung ; there sprang 
 from the matter two mighty Ushuras, Madhu and Kytaba, 
 evidently water and fire, who waged war for S.ooo years**— a 
 period geologically not extravagant. The Bramha prayed 
 to the almighty Will, an(^ from the Will sprang the divine 
 effulgence — the Mohiimya. Well did the sage put into the 
 mouth of the Brahma the following exquisite-f-f lines, which 
 express Her to a certain extent, for how could she be 
 properly described by any human language ? It will be seen 
 that the generating circle is composed of two-halves, re- 
 presenting, we may say here, the spiritual and material sides. 
 The material side is ■ divided inro two parts, showing the 
 divers phenomena of life and nature. To make the subject 
 still plainer, let me here quote some lines of a western writer, 
 William Halcombe, M. D. He says :—" Binary causes lie 
 at the bottom of all things. The sun and moon cast their 
 light upon us, the rain falls, and the waves roll, the spheres 
 preserve their rotundity, and persevere in their motions, all 
 are the result of underlying dual forces. Every human being 
 man or woman, is lii<e the Lord Himself, in a certain sense 
 bi-sexual, having both masculine and feminine qualities, 
 which are to be blended or equilibriated in a spiritual marriage, 
 which is regeneration. This spiritual duality of each individual 
 is represented in the physical duality of the human body. 
 It is composed of two simiilar halves, united at tke meridian 
 line, which are positive and negative, or male and female in 
 relation to each other. The entire brain, the nervous system 
 with their wonderful appendages of muscles and bones, are 
 
 Again. — 
 Tang BaisMabi Saktirapanta birjya Bishashya Bijam Parama3hi maya. 
 •• Panchabarsha Shaliasrani Bahu Pasharaua Blbhu. 
 tt Tang Shaha tang Sodha Tang he Bashatkara Sarantika. 
 Sndbatya Muksharaynita tridhamatra triahatinka, &o. 
 
( 6o ) 
 
 peculiarly alike on both sides of the body. We have two 
 eyes, two hands two feet, two breasts, and when there is 
 apparently one organ as the nose or mouth, it is composed 
 of two halves, peculiarly alike and accui-ately adjusted or 
 married to each other. There are other marriages also in 
 the body, between organ and organ, between function and 
 function, between nervous fluid and the blood, &c. The 
 
 c 
 
 crowning act of divine glory was the (production of two 
 bodies, that is, the natural body and the spiritual body." 
 
 Again — 
 
 "Divine love is feminine, the Divine wisdom, the masculine 
 principle in the Divine nature. They are inseparable, co- 
 existent, co-animating, co-operating. They are the positive 
 and negative poles of the infinite magnet. They exist, and 
 are perpetuated by the action and re-action upon each other. 
 The activity of love is goodness ; the form of wisdom is truth. 
 Divine goodness and Divine truth are the sexes of Godj 
 yearning for each other with infinite attraction, united 
 together in divine marriage. Their reciprocal action is the 
 cause of all life and love and light" in one word ^^Mahamaya." 
 I have endeavoured to explain the term as fully as I can, 
 because it is the key to the Tantras, and yet it is not generally 
 understood by all. 
 
 Tcf: return to the main subject, the early Trantriks, as 
 said before, were a mysterious band of human beings, who 
 lived mostly in mountain fastnesses. They were much in 
 advance of their time, both in learning and thought, and 
 carried thdr worship, experiments and researches, unobserved 
 and undisturbed, by vulgar curiosity and vulgar interference. 
 They would rarely come to society. Their secluded habits, 
 their mysterious forms of worship led men to distrust them 
 and to look on them with awe. But the time, however, 
 came when they took upon themselves the task of reforma- 
 tion. What the refornis were, will be the subject of other 
 papers. In the present address, it will be necessary at the 
 
( 6i ) 
 
 threshold to try to explain a mystery, which has hitherto been 
 considered as such, and which is nevertheless the principal 
 feature and element of Tantrik worship, namely, the mystic 
 power of certain letters of the alphabet, and of their com- 
 binations, called Bijes. The power of certain letters pro- 
 ceeds, as I understand, from the supposition that God as 
 well as the etherial beir^s are Burnorupd, i.e., they are to be 
 understood by means of certain letters, or a combination of 
 letters, which would produce a certain idea of the attributes 
 of the being worshipped or invoked, to establish a bond 
 between the worshipper and the worshipped. The argument, 
 as it is, should be based on the supposition that there exist 
 such beings as are mentioned above, and any manifestations 
 proceeding therefrom, if such manifestations be of a nature 
 sufficiently Strong for the presumption of higher agency than 
 the self of the worshipper, they should not be classed as 
 simple phenomena of the mind. Let us illustrate this point 
 by an actual phenomenon of a dream. An intelligent, educated 
 person once saw the form of a woman in a dream, who, he 
 knew resembled no body he was acquainted with. Under 
 the circumstance, naturally enough he asked in sleep who 
 she might be. She simply smiled as if to evade an answer, 
 and took her seat quietly by his side, and opened an almanac 
 to show by the signs of the Zodiac that from such to such 
 a time he (the sleeper) would be in many troubles, and then 
 from such a time, he would be engaged in certain pursuits, 
 which would bring him certain distinctions. The sleeper 
 awoke, and, in course of time, finds that the prophesy of 
 the phantom was literally too true. Under the circumstances, 
 it will be very hard for the individual to ignore the indivi- 
 duality of an unknown being, distinct from his own self in 
 the very strange phenomeijsa^tbjs.dream. 
 
 In his article on " the Analysis of language" published 
 in the 'Open Court' on January 2nd, 1890. Professor Max 
 Muller writes : — "now let me tell yoy, first of all, that this 
 
( 62 ) 
 
 chemical analysis of words is by no means a new invention. 
 It was perfomed for the first time more than 2,ooo years ago 
 by the grammarians of India. They reduced the whole of 
 their abounding language to about i,7o5 toots. Given these 
 roots, they professed to be able to account for every word 
 in Sanskrit, and to a certain extent, they achieved it Con- 
 sidering the time when that experiment was carried out, it 
 strikes us as perfectly marvellous. Still, we have made 
 advance over Pannini, and Mr. Edgren has reduced the 
 number of necessary roots to 8i6 afterwards to 630, and at 
 last to 587. With these roots he thinks that the great bulk 
 of the Sanskrit vocabulary can be accounted for." In the 
 Hindu Shastras, or more particularly in the Tantras, 
 although there are descriptions of many and various orders 
 of beings for worship and invocation, they are represented 
 by a few combinations of letters, called Bij'es or seeds. They 
 are so called, because it is possible to derive from them 
 the four aims* of life, namely, virtue, wealth, fulfilment of 
 wishes and salvation. The Bijes represent the names and 
 orders of invisible beings, which convey the idea of certain 
 mysterious charms or powers inherent in them. That ordi- 
 narily seme names have charms no body will deny. What 
 feeling of the tenderest and holiest nature are not awakened 
 in us by the term mother. What a number of agreeable 
 associations do not delight us when we use the term 'vernal'. 
 But the mysterious charms or powers of Tantric Bij'es are not 
 to be understood in the sense indicated above. They are 
 supposed to exert an influence over the life and character of 
 an individual, when hejs solicitous to awaken that influence, 
 and hence is the popular belief that when a person is attended 
 with misfortunes after misfortunes, he is advised by his friends 
 to get himself dikhita or initiated by a proper Guru or instruc- 
 tor. Granting here, for he sake of argument, that the Bijes 
 have the powers mentioned above, the question naturally 
 
 • Dbamia, Artlia, Kam, anil Maksha. 
 
( 63 ) 
 
 arises, whence are the powers ? The answer is mind. It is a 
 notorious fret that scepticism begets nothing but sterility, 
 ^^''^^ fai^, which, though at times, gives birth to many a rank- 
 vegetation, called superstitions, is far better than absolute 
 sterility. Age, study, experience and good associations may 
 clear the superstitions away, and make the land cheerful to 
 its possessor and passers-by, while scepticism presents nothing 
 but a dreary aspect of an arid waste, unapprochable owing 
 to the hot glare of ceaseless egotism. The faith has its action 
 on the mind, and mind is the power in man. Under the vivi- 
 fying influence of faith, the powers of the mind are not only 
 nourished and strengthened each day ; and according to the 
 nature of the man of faith, the, circumstance of his life and 
 the department of his enquiry, they give birth at times to 
 extraordinary mental images and ideas — extraordinary we 
 call them, and extraordinary they shall always be considered, 
 in the absence of a written history of such phenomenal 
 images and ideas of imaginative thinkers from the birth of 
 civilization, arranged, classified and indexed, such as we have 
 of the remarkable incidents in the life- histories of kings, 
 ministers, statesmen, &c. These images and ideas open new,, 
 relations, and establish new connections between the visible 
 man of faith and the invisible orders of being in the same 
 way as nature speaks intelligibly to those devoted to her, and 
 opens new relations, and establishes new connections between 
 them and the organic and inorganic worlds. 
 
 The saying " think of the devil, and he will appear" is no 
 less true than think of an angel, and he is near you, which 
 means, think of the angel's attributes deeply, sincerely and 
 lovingly, and you cannot but have a perception of the being. 
 His attributes will converge themselves to an image— an 
 image the glory and brightness of which will startle even 
 yourself — an image that shall lead you step by step to better 
 and happier states. The images themselves may be illusions, 
 though we are assured in the Tantras that they are not, and 
 
( 64 ) 
 
 in time capable of being developed into tangible shapes ; but 
 the term 'illusion' supposes the existence of something, whose 
 form and character it temporarily assumes, though in itself it 
 may be unreal. Let us take a physical phenomenon, perhe- 
 lion or mock sun, for example, of which there are some very 
 beautiful plates in No. i. Journal, Asiatic Society for 1854. 
 This astronomical phenomenon is caused by great cold, and 
 depends upon miuute crystals of aerially-suspended ice, for 
 their prismatic colours, in other words, it is the reflection of 
 the sun in the aerially-suspended icy particles. The mental 
 images, so far as their mentality is concerned, appear to be 
 of the character of the physical phenomenon adduced before. 
 I think, I can go so far with the scientists, but there are 
 collateral attendant circumstances which prevent me from 
 endorsing their opinion that they are wholly baseless. There 
 is a ceremony amongst us, called the ceremony of koTttd, 
 which, if rightly performed, the worshipper can, to a certain 
 extent converse intelligently with the invisible, and interpret 
 from visible signs the approaching incidents of life and the 
 fulfilment of the object aimed at. There are physical cir- 
 cumstances attendant on this ceremony over which the mind 
 of the worshipper can have no control whatever, and which, 
 in adverse cases, he would certainly avoid or hold in abeyance 
 if he could, but being uncontrollable, they are ascribed to 
 the invisible. Yet the worship, the ceremony itself is built 
 on faith. Remove this faith, and the worshipper like the 
 pseudo-prophet in the Persian tale, who, when his magic box 
 was burnt down, was no longer able to make aerial flights at 
 will, dnd wai subject to the same law of gravitation as any 
 ordinary individual. Love a woman fondly and devotedly, 
 and you will see new charms in her every day. Lose faith in 
 your own love, and she is nothing to you. The physician, 
 who after years of practice, says that in matters of cure, the 
 medicines are nothing-that human constitution is 'every 
 thing, has lost his faith in his practice and in himself, and 
 
( 6s ) 
 
 should be the last person to be sent for in cases of serious 
 complaints. Thus, faith is the basis of success not in religion 
 only, but in all departments of knowledger It is said in the 
 Bhagbat, and very aptly, that faith steps in where knowledge 
 fails to go, and thus the sublimest passages in the scriptures 
 of the Hindus, Mahomedans or Christians are due to those 
 unaccountable moments of inspiration, which have their 
 basis on faith. Knowledge has been represented in that 
 precious work as a male, and faith as a female. Knowledge 
 is often hesitating, distrustful, sombre and heavy. Faith is 
 ever-confident and confiding, light and cheerful. To leave 
 religion alone with knowledge, is to leave her to distraction. 
 
 I have mentioned to you the probable age of the early 
 Tantras which can be better judged from the style of writings 
 and use of expressions than from any thing else in the 
 absence of any certain data. Some of the Tantras, however, 
 appear to be of so later date that their thoughts and Tanguage 
 are more Bengali than Sanskrit — a cirfcumstance which in- 
 clines me to thmk that they were composed much later than 
 the poems of Bidyapati and Jnanadas. I have mentioned 
 to you also who the early Tantriks were, how they lived, 
 and managed to carry on their study and researches. I have 
 mentioned to you at the same time that they existed before 
 the Buddhistic era, but their opinions and tenets were not 
 generally accepted by the society till after the great religious 
 revolution. Their religious views were never antagonistic 
 to those expressed in tjie Vedas and Puranas, but they intro- 
 duced a freshness and simplicity of their own, which com- 
 mended themselves to the minds of the people at once. 
 Unfortunately, however, their intentions have been so grossly 
 misrepresented in our days that the very name of Tantra 
 sometimes shocks our nerves ; yet the two-thirds of our reli- 
 gious rites are Tantrik, and almost one half of our medicines 
 is Tantrik. Are we then justified to decry the Tantras, 
 simply because some bad men do at time^ distort their mean- 
 
 9 
 
( 66 ) 
 
 ings or translate into actions various practices of objectionable 
 nature mentioned therein, to serve their ovvn base purposes^? 
 Science is bound to deal with every kind of fact. There 
 cannot be any thing indelicate, objectionable or harmful in 
 science. Mentions have no doubt been often made of such 
 performances as Maran, Stambhun, Uchaton,* &c. Are we, 
 therefore, to coniclude that the Tantriks are to perform them 
 to the injury of their neighbours ? Mention is now-a-days 
 made of painless death by electricity, and it has been said to 
 be scientifically possible ; it, therefore, does not follow that one 
 should kill another for that, any more > than a chemist to 
 poison a man or even an animal because poisons are always 
 within his reach. There are many indelicate passages in the 
 Tanttas, but their indelicacies cease altogether when we look 
 on them in the light of science. Tantra is science, , Tantra ig 
 religion. The two have been blended together for reasons 
 mentioned before. The Tantras are not unique in this 
 respect. The Hindu Astronomy, Geometry, Algebra, Medi- 
 cine, Laws, have all been connected in some way with 
 religion. 
 
 I have now one more point to touch in the preliminary 
 portion of this address, namely, the origin or the Tantras. 
 It would be hazarding a conjecture, were 1 to tell you that 
 they originated in Kamrup. I have' looked into one or two 
 Kamrup Tantras, and from the similarity of subjects and 
 from bolder and ampler deliniaJ:k)ns of matters, I am inclined 
 to hold that opinion. Who has not amongst the Hindus 
 here present, heard of the powers of facination, often practised 
 by young Kamrup witches in years gone by, on unwary 
 travellers, and made them forget their homes, wives and 
 children for them ? Who has not heard of wonderful tales of 
 black arts, practised by Kamrup men ? And as the shrine at 
 Kamrup is the oldest on record, it is not improbable that 
 
 « The processes by which one from a cUstauce can kill or turn another mad, tix. 
 
( 6; ) 
 
 they originated there, and gradually spread over the eastern 
 portion of India. 
 
 The preliminary questions in regard to the Tantras 
 having been discussed, I shall, in my next paper, endeavour 
 to examine the religious and medical aspects of the books. 
 An examination of the medical aspect is attended with diffi- 
 culties ; as it would be, in the first instance necessary to pre- 
 pare a comparative statement of plants, metals and minerals 
 which were used in the Vedic and Tantric ages. Such a 
 statement when prepared -will no doubt be useful as well as 
 interesting. ' 
 
 The Religious aspects of the Tantras. 
 
 I will first of all describe wherein consists the newness of 
 Tantrik worship. 
 
 It has been already shewn in my paper on the " Spirit 
 Worship of Ancient India", that in the Pouranik age the 
 seeds of spirit worship were sown broadcast all over the 
 country, which bore fruits in the age of the Tantras. In the 
 Pouranik age, images of spirits prepared, coloured, dressed 
 and adorned, were lovingly worshipped. In course of time 
 such worships did not satisfy altogether the cravings of the 
 hearts of the worshippers. A love so materially directed, 
 hoped for a material response. Accordingly the worshipper 
 hoped that the image should speak to him, and console him 
 in his distress. Such a wish, or such an expectation, was no 
 doubt a step in advance towards spirituality. But the image 
 was image, however fondly made, coloured, dressed and 
 adorned. Was it possible that dead matter would feel and 
 speak ? The worshipper hoped so. Did he not impart* to 
 the image a spiritual body and mind before worship ? Yes, 
 he did according to his faith. Mayhaps, he magnetised it 
 with his own magnetism, and thus what appears to be an 
 impossibility to another, was not so to him. Then he would 
 
 * The Ceremony of Fianprotliista. 
 
( 68 ) 
 
 sit alone for hours looking fondly and ardently at the bright 
 face of the image, his soul concentrated in it. At such moments 
 of religious frenzy, of utter sincerity, of love and faith, quite 
 Asiatic in their intensity, it was no wonder that he would 
 see another image more glorious— celestial in its composi- 
 tion, stand between him and the clay, and speak to him as 
 a soul would speak to a soul. Such experiences of the 
 Pouraniks were not lost on the Tantriks who understood 
 the principle of their success, and applied it not to clay, 
 but to living, breathing woman, who was to them the emblem 
 of divine love, grace and harmony on earth ; and who, by 
 her very nature and constitution, was adapted to receive 
 inspirations and communications from the spirit-world. 
 Thus her power, and her fitness in respect to mediumship, 
 was ^r.r/ recognized in India, which led to speedy develop,- 
 ment. The idea of 'circle' in a land where the perservation 
 of spiritual aura in individuals was studiously maintained, 
 was then only at an arm's length of discovery. The gifted 
 only walked with the gifted. The pure-in-spirit flocked 
 with the pure-in-spirit, and the result was the almost uncon- 
 scious formation of circles for Sadhana. A joint song — a 
 hallelujah 'streaming sweetly upwards to the skies' was 
 certainly more cheering, more ennobling than the average 
 of silent worship : And the ecstatic condition attainable on 
 such occasions led men frequently to the formation of circles. 
 The existence of woman in such circles taking part in worship, 
 and shedding divine love in them, resembled the soft silvery 
 moon in the blue depths of the summer sky, that shews 
 the way to Mercy's Seat to the silent worshippers at night. 
 When Brahmanism triumphed over the religion of Budha, 
 public morality was certainly not very high. A good 
 Guru ( preceptor ) was as rare as a good disciple ; and the 
 Tantriks had to make hard and fast rules for the guidanM 
 of those who wished to be initiated into their mode of 
 worship. But the people were generally addicted to wine 
 
( 69 ) 
 
 and woman, and they had to give them both. Here it is 
 necessary for me to break off the subject for a while, to 
 enter fully into the views of the Tantriks, without which 
 they are likely to be misunderstood altogether in our time. 
 Composed, as every community always is, of a vast mass 
 of people who differ from one another in taste, propensity 
 and mental powers, it can hardly be expected that even in 
 matter of religion, wherein faith enters so largely, they would 
 all hold the same opinion unanimously. It follows, there- 
 fore, that only a few adhere strongly to religion, while the 
 rest, a vast mass, remain indifferent for a time, and then allow 
 themselves to be drifted every now and again from one current 
 of thought to another. It was in India and in India only, 
 that provisions of divers nature were advisedly made to 
 suit different intellects and different dispositions. The 
 ancients accordingly constructed numberless bypaths to lead 
 to one and the only road to salvation, namely, the undivided 
 attention to, and love for, God. They understood well 
 enough their task; they knew that so long as a man 
 has a lurking asakti (inclination) in his heart for earthly 
 pleasures or powers or fame, he would be only serving 
 two masters — the God to whom his heart ought to go as 
 a whole and not in part, and the . ideal of his imagination 
 for which he entertains a cherished desire in the heart of 
 his heart. They knew also that the highest and . the most 
 glorious prize of salvation could only be in the lot of one in 
 a million, but the ninety-nine hundreds of thousands, nine 
 hundred and ninety-nine should not go about in despondence ; 
 and accordingly arranged a system in which there were, so 
 to speak, prizes for all grades and no blank to push them to 
 a by-path of seeming happiness, and leave them in course 
 of time to find out each for himself the True Road. Thus, 
 if a man in whom ruling propensity is strong, wants power 
 to satisfy the cravings of his heart, let him worship Sukti in 
 any form according to his taste. If his inclinations be 
 
( 70 ) 
 
 for worldly pleasures, let him worship Naikas or Joginis. 
 A desire for worship in any form thus engendered betimes 
 by the help of his own inclination, cannot but be accept- 
 able to him. Then in course of time — by the satisfaction 
 of his desire — by the inherent law of nature that leads one 
 to seek for better sources of happiness, he unconsciously 
 comes to the very point, where he gets a glimpse of the 
 Glorious. 
 
 Thus when the Tantriks saw the people addicted to 
 worldly pleasures, they sanctioned the pleasures ; but, at 
 the same time, inculcated a taste for worship in them. They 
 gave them wine, it is true, but at the same time they pointed 
 out to them that it should only be used at the time of worship 
 to concentrate their minds. They gave them woman, but 
 they enjoined at the same time that she was the emblem of 
 Sukti, and told them in the plainest possible language — "look 
 on her in any light you please — that of a mother, sister or 
 wife — she was to be worshipped." They sanctioned midnight 
 songs, but advised them to sing only those which were calcu- 
 lated to elevate them and to glorify the spirits invoked. 
 
 While the Divine worship of most nations of the earth 
 consists in the adoration of, and thanksgiving to, the Deity, 
 that of the Hindus is pre-eminently a systematic, and I may 
 add, a sort of scientific attempt on their part to establish a 
 temporary spiritual connexion with the Deity, undisturbed 
 by self and surroundings. What then is the form of worship 
 for which the Hindus claim the pre-eminence ? It consists 
 (i) in the isolation on the part of the worshipper by Ashan and 
 Pranayant ; (ii) in the purification of the self and surroundings ; 
 (iii) in the shutting out of evil influences ; (iv) in the burning 
 of the sinful and the creation of a spiritual body to make 
 it worthy of the occasion ; and (v) in self-mesmerism to lose 
 himself in meditation, thanksgiving and adoration. We shall 
 now take up each of these recognised processes to shew 
 that the form of Tantrik worship is not only both uniaue 
 
( 7' ) 
 
 and happy, but logically the best possible that will appear 
 to any impartial mind unbiassed by sectarian viewft-. Picture 
 to yourself a man sitting in a meek and devout spirit on a 
 silk cloth spread over a tiger or a deer skin. Picture also 
 spread before him on a bright copper plate some full-blown 
 and sweet-scented flowers of different hues with water drawn 
 fresh from streams, and incense burning hard by. The first 
 thing the worshipj^er does is to isolate himself by the virtue 
 of his silk-dress and silk-laid seat. His next step is to 
 isolate his inner-self from the influences of worldly thoughts 
 by Pranayam, but his sinful soul is yet unworthy as an 
 offering to the Holy Spirit, much less of any attempt of his 
 part to approach Him. He, therefore, thinks of his past .sins, 
 and in a spii-it of penance and in utter sincerity, destroys the 
 sinful body both on the right and left sides by the fire of 
 ipenance and breath. His next step is to create a spiritual 
 body composed of the silvery beams of the crescent moon 
 which be conceives in the frontal region, and then, after 
 kicking out evil spirits by the heel of his left foot, he sits 
 composedly to mesmerise himself by passes to be drawn by 
 his own hands from head to foot, either 5, 7 or 12 times 
 according to individual necessity. He next conceives another 
 light that far outshines the light of the crescent moon on his 
 frontal region — the light of several suns on the seat of 
 veneration where he has laid a flower for the light to rest 
 and illumine the newly-created body and all its chambers. 
 He now meditates in ecstasy, veneration and love. Ex- 
 perience has shown to the Rishis that it is only by means 
 of Pranayam or Kum-bhak that a man can isolate himself 
 froqivrorldlv ifpnnections ; yet beneficial as the process is 
 in spiritual worship, and conduces as it doeis to prolongation 
 of life as a fact, it should be learnt separately and gradually. 
 Our personal experience has shewn to us that this should 
 be done ; otherwise, the attention of the worshipper would 
 only be directed to his breath instead of. to the object of his 
 
( n ) 
 
 worship. It is only when some control has been gained over 
 breath, that the worshipper should adopt Kum-bhak for the 
 purpose of spiritual communion — a communion that distin- 
 guishes itself at once from ordinary worship. The process of 
 stretching out one's own magnetic power with a will to elimi- 
 nate evil influence, requires also some remarks. The Hindus 
 have a belief in his own spirit, as well as in the existence of 
 spirit-spheres. They believe that evil spifits can frustrate the 
 efforts of a pious individual, and hence by prayer and by the 
 help of stretching one's magnetism that he drives out evil in- 
 fluences, and in supreme contempt kicks the evil spirits by the 
 heel of his left foot three times. The devotee then conceives 
 the gradual resolution of his body to the five elements — air, 
 earth, light, water and Akash, each element taking its own 
 share and leaving the soul alone uncontaminated. The soul, 
 however, requires a body — a body that shall be worthy of the 
 occasion of divine worship. He, therefore, composes a celestial 
 body such as has been mentioned above. The self-mesmerism 
 is another feature that commends itself to our thinking. Cen- 
 turies before Mesmer was born, the Tantriks knew the uses 
 of passes. They used them for meditation ; and, while the 
 other processes contributed to self-purification, the passes 
 tended to produce abstraction and to develope the clairvoyant 
 power of the soul. 
 
 I have described above simply the principles of Tantrik 
 worship of the Hindus, and I doubt not it will strike every 
 one what interest was taken by our ancestors for establishing 
 a philosophic form of spiritual worship, and what thoughts 
 were bestowed by them on the subject. 
 
 For detailed description, our readers are requested to refer 
 to Maha Nirvana Tantra. 
 
 In examining the Tantras, one cannot help being impress- 
 ed with the intelligence and comprehensiveness with which 
 the early Tantriks, as kowilks or students of nature, trace 
 the universe to one abstract force and expand the same to 
 
( 73 ) 
 
 countless phases of life, intelligence and matter. Without 
 rejecting the nomenclature of the Vedas and the Puranas, 
 they represent — 
 
 Soul as Vishnu. 
 
 Intelligence fWisdom) as Shiva. 
 
 T6} or animation (Life), including matter, as Bramha. 
 
 Singly or separately^ the three are held to be simple 
 fagors, as a, b and c. They are to be combined and multi- 
 plied together, as {a+by or {b^cY or (a+c)« or (ci-\-b + cY 
 to have the phenomena of natura. The combining principle 
 is Sakti or^F jj^ccfi . which is one in abstract, and is called 
 Vaishnabi Sakti ox Ady'a Sakti* (primeval Force.) It is con- 
 
 • In tie ynrfn Sankalini Tantra it has been stated "Brahmindai Jai Quna Barbai sacriresbu 
 babasthita", ije,, "Whatever qiuilities (aotions) we find in the universe, we see them in the 
 human body". In the universe (we assuma this Jrom a Icuowledge oi our own solar system) 
 we see two forces at work : the one is attrSiOtion, the other repulsion, the term loroe being one 
 in abstract. We also see a play oJ these two forces in the human system : the air that we take 
 in and the air that we repel or exhale. When we take in air, we make a peculiar 'Hang'-like 
 "sound. When we let it out, we make a 'Sa'-like sound. If we again, from any sadden cause, 
 suGh as admiration, love, fear, &c., hold our breath for a moment to think on the subject that 
 has given birth to the emotion, or if we with an effort of our will contemplate on a ol^ect that we like 
 to carry into effect^ we also hold the breath for a while, and while we do so, we involuntarily 
 make a peculiar 'Om'-like nasal soimd. This last named sound is the Franava of the Hindus — 
 the once Jougik state of the Deity — the first starting point ("BinduJ of creation, i.e., the Creative 
 will. In ithe Deity, "Hang" and "Sa" are both inapplicable. He being not.subject to 'life, 
 preservation and destruction. He is so far — as all created beings know him — only "Om." The 
 Jogis who hold their breath to contemplate Him and Him only, enjoy for the time being an 
 Immunity from destruction— an existence of life only — an immortality simple and pure. It is 
 said that in such a state they (Jogis) can create what they wish. 
 
 When we are led by any emotion or will as stated before to hold our breath for awhile, our 
 feelings play upon our countenances like the artist colors, on the canvas. The face of the 
 Deity is the universe. As soon as the creative will came, the universe was an accomplished 
 fact— his elimitable love, beauty, harmony, glory and wisdom shone resplendent. The creative 
 will— the 'Om'— is therefore the 'Vaimavi Sakti.' 
 
 mrddalilakd »aj(».— 'Hang' is masculine, 'Sa' is feminine. The 'Hangaa' combined, is life. 
 all living beings worship it always. When the two are blended together in one eternal, 
 union then 'Hangsa' is turned into 'S6han?.' The bodily 'HAkara' and the bodily 'SakirA' 
 vanish in the union, and the result is Pranava or Om. 
 In the SivAgama it is stated— 
 
 "Sakti Shiva, Shiva Sakti, Saktir Brahma JanArdana, 
 "Saktirindra, Babi Sakti, Shaktiscbandra and grahadhmva, 
 f.e.. Shim is Sakti, Sakti is Shiva, Sakti is Brahma, Sakti is Vishnu, Sakli is Iiidra, Sakti is the Sun, 
 Sakti is the Moon, and Sakti is the Pole Star. 
 . Aga.in\Satti\rupa Tayat Sariang," t.e., THE UNIVEliSE IS MADE OF SAKTI. , 
 
 lO • 
 
( 74 ) 
 
 Crete in combination and diversity. Sakti appears to be 
 Divine Love, Shiva Divine Wisdom, Vishnu the soul, as also 
 soul of souls and Bramha, the animation or life of the 
 universe. Sakti was the mother of the creation. She was 
 the mother of the factors themselves, but after creation she 
 has been figuratively said to be the consort of the Shiva, and 
 hence the statement "Janani Ramani, Ramani JananV (the 
 mother the wife, the wife the mother). A little reflection 
 will show the object of the statement. Divine Love is held 
 to have prompted the creation. Divine Wisdom made it 
 an accomplished fact : after which Wisdom and Love are 
 helping each other in preserving and controlling the creation. 
 According to the Tdntriks every man is a representation of 
 Divine Wisdom, and every woman a representation of Divine 
 Love. Any offence, against either is an offence against Divine 
 Wisdom or Divine Love. The two, they think, should go 
 for ever and ever together to make a harmonious whole ; and 
 hence no worship, no prayer, no form of Sddhana, would be 
 complete unless it is done-f- together. The woman is neces- 
 sary in Tdntrik Sddhana, whether done privately or publicly 
 as in a circle. The word Sddhana is not simply a prayer or 
 worship. It signifies a series of acts by which a devotee 
 strives to render himself acceptable to God or a spirit as the 
 case may be. The word is by no means a Tantrik word. It is 
 a word as old as the Sanskrit language itself, and is being 
 used from the very earliest times. The mode and character, 
 however, of the Sddhana of the Tantriks are often singular, 
 and sometimes different from those of the preceding ages. 
 They have seen force as the ruling principle of nature, to the 
 attainment of which they generally, if not invariably, direct 
 themselves. The force of mind, the force of character, and 
 
 t IQ the K€A Tantra, while Bpeaking on women In general, it is said that all wishes to talk 
 ill o£ a woman, to be artful to her, to do a'.ight which is not pleasant to her, shonld be avoided, 
 lor in doing all these, the success in worship would be frustrated. Woman is to be considered 
 ^ DeviUa, as life, as ornament. 
 
( 75 ) 
 
 the force of the inner self are the principal aims of their 
 attainment. With the attainment of force they hope to rule, 
 according to capacity, both the matter and the mind to the 
 extent mentioned in the Tantras, irrespective of any distance 
 of time and space. For public opinion they care not. Fear 
 they have not. Uncleanliness and abomination, as understood 
 by >the Hindus, are not to be found in their dictionaries. 
 Fastings and penance they laugh at. Wine they require in- 
 moderate quantity to control the images of their mind, and 
 woman to draw out their best nature at the time of Sddhana. 
 
 At times their Sadhana flies of at a tangent, and partakes 
 the character of Bir (heroic) t worship. Alone then in the 
 blackest part of a moonless night, in places of cremation, and 
 over dead bodies of persons who have died from unnatural 
 causes, they would sit for hours undaunted, taking wine at 
 intervals and performing those rites which, according to their, 
 beliefs, are calculated to give them supernatural powers by 
 supernatural means ; or they would surround themselves with 
 all the temptations of flesh — the temptations of wine, of 
 woman, well-dressed meat, sweet-scented flowers and fragrant 
 perfumes, and. in spite of them fix their mind on the objects 
 of their worship, which in all such cases are the spirits. The 
 worship of Pard Bramha % or Deity is separately enjoined. 
 The Tantriks consider that man can bring within his control/ 
 various orders of elemental and astral spirits, if he only. 
 
 f According to the principlea of Hindu religion a man is to observe certain rules in performing 
 
 his worship, i. e.^ he must bathe, he must fast, he must perform his puja in the morning, &c ,, 
 
 but the Bwaeharjeu say, according to Bir Tantra that a worshipper is to bathe in mini, is to clean 
 
 himself in mind, is to perform his /opo, pvja and Tiir^ana in mini. With them there is no 
 
 auspicious or inauspicious time— tliere is no fixed time, such as day, night, evening or dead of 
 
 night. He is not to be debarred from worship, because he has eaten something &o. 
 
 X Shutdamara. 
 
 "S&by^ahfl s^baka sarbai parancbatra dhikdriui 
 
 TArak6 Brahmand bhritAng binashya tradhi kArinA." 
 
 The above two lines from Bhutdamara clearly state that all that has been said above in regard 
 
 to Devi worship, does not apply in the least to those who worship God (Brahmi). The re^ons 
 
 are that those who worship Devis Cfemale astral spirits) do so from temporal motives, such as 
 
 enjoyments of various sorts. Those who, on the other hand, worship &od, should do so from 
 
 no selfish motives, ' 
 
( 7(> ) 
 
 knows how to invoke and attract them. To invoke and 
 attract them successfully certain conditions are to be satisfied. 
 These conditions are mysteriously blended with a variety 
 of rites partaking the name of Sadhana, in which harmony 
 of time and place, the concentration of mind, the supposed 
 attractive power of the Mudras and of diagrams, and the 
 power of will appear to be essentially necessary on the part 
 of the worshipper ; and as it has been pointed out above 
 that in Tantrik worship the woman is the most important 
 factor, she is often made the subject or tp^gjiiium through 
 whom the spirit is supposed to speak. The method of 
 hypnotising individuals as is done in our days, was known 
 to the Tantriks of the ancient days ; but they had their 
 own method, which answered them admirably. This method > 
 is a part of the Sadhana, which consists in offering some 
 wine to the medium, who is worshipped vicariously for 
 the spirit, in whispering the Bijes into her ear, and the per- 
 formance of Japa on the three joints of her arm, the wrist, 
 the elbow and the shoulder joints, and then on the crown of 
 her head. As the Bijes are whispered into her ear, the incense 
 sends up sweet perfumes into her nostril, and the Japa 
 performed on the joints of her arm, she becomes magnetised. 
 Her looks become vacant and wild, her gentle smile is con- 
 verted into loud laugh. She then begins to swing backward 
 and forward on her seat or stands up suddenly, her hair 
 somewhat dishevelled. A little more wine is then put into 
 her mouth and a sabre into her hand, and the worshipper 
 continues his worship as before, i.e., offers her garlands of 
 flowers, perfume and sweets. Then she becomes somewhat 
 collected, and addresses the worshipper in a tone of command, 
 and directs him to do what are necessary in regaid to the 
 particular object for which the spirit has been invoked. If 
 any one at this time puts any test questions, he may expect 
 to get satisfactory answers ; for she is supposed at this stage 
 to be en rapport with the spirit invoked. Care should always 
 
( -n ) 
 
 be taken at this time tiiat utmost respect is shewn to her, 
 or mischief is ' likely to happen. Any unsuccessful stance 
 is at once acknowledged, for the Indians have not the appli- 
 ances of the civilized countries either to hide, or impose, and 
 thus bring discredit even on truthful stances performed by 
 honest men and women. The Indian stances are always 
 held on the bare ground of a room devoid of furniture, having 
 nothing but an orthodox light of butter illuminating the 
 place. 
 
 When a circle* is to be formed according to Tantrik prin- 
 ciple, each man accompanied by a woman is required to sit 
 on the ground on Asans or seats prepared of Kusha grass, and 
 take a cup for himself or herself In the circle the woman 
 should place herself on the left side of man, one of whom, ac- 
 cording to some physical characteristics, is elected as the 
 Bhoyrabi or the superioress of the circle, whose orders every 
 one is bound to obey. The glass of this lady is filled first of 
 all with some wine ; she, before touching it with her lips, deli- 
 vers a set speech in which she says she takes unto herself all 
 misfortunes or all causes of unhappiness of the company. 
 She then drinks a little of the wine and puts the cup down 
 on the ground, which is taken up by turn by every members 
 of the company, and its contents are partially mixed with the 
 contents of each one's own cup. When all the mem.bers have 
 once finished their drink, they meditate and sing together. 
 The superioress at the head of the circle may fall into ecstacy 
 or not, according to the devotional character of the company. 
 
 In the case of Sundari Sadhana, or the worship of the 
 beautiful, i. e., of celestial spirits, either an unmarried girl of 8 
 to lo years of age, or a married woman of i6 years, of fair 
 
 • Bhitmui OmkrAnastdng says that men with Sakti or women should sit as couples either in 
 the form of a circle or in a line. 
 
 Within the circle all are to contemplate on Sitasakti, then flowers, &c., are to be offered to 
 G-urnpatra. 
 
 Within the circle all men and women of whatever caste or colour should be considered pure as 
 Biahmans. Outside the circle all colours (castes) are separate as before. 
 
( 78 ) 
 
 colour and prepossessing appearance, after she has ben clad 
 in best of cloths and decked with best of ornaments, is wor- 
 shipped in the morning, In such cases the medium is address- 
 ed as mother, whereas in other cases as mother, sister or wife, 
 according to the option of the worshipper. The nature of the 
 worship, which resembles the worship of images, dazes the 
 girl considerably and imparts to her a power of prevision 
 which enables her to forecast future events for a time. 
 
 Of solitary worship I have spoken as much as is necessary' 
 in my paper on " Spirit Worship of ancient India. I therefore 
 need not repeat what I have said. Let me now analyze 
 and see — 
 
 (i) Wherein the Tantrik SaaMi^z^a differs from the mo- 
 dern spirit invocation of the West. 
 
 (2) Wherein consists the newness of Tantrik Sadhana as 
 compared with the Sadhana of the preceding ages. 
 
 The modern spiritualism of the West differs from the 
 spiritualism of the East in the following respects : — 
 (a) As regards the subjects. 
 {b) As regards the methods, 
 (e) As regards the objects. 
 First, as tegards the subjects, the ancients of India, as a 
 rule, vie.vcr directly invoked, the souls of departed persons. They, 
 however, entertained considerable-- respect for them, as will 
 appear from the Hindu ceremony of Sradhd. The reason is 
 obvious. The ancients wanted the attainments of certain un- 
 common powers, which they evidently considered as unattain- 
 able from undeveloped spirits of men. The spirits often 
 looked to and worshipped, are the astral spirits and some- 
 times the spirits of^elements. 
 
 Secondly as regards the methods, the ancients as a rule 
 looked more to their own psychic developments than to physi- 
 cal manifestation, assuming the existence of spirits and spirit 
 worlds as well-established facts. They thought that man 
 being incomplete, he should to a certain extent take the help 
 
( 79. ) 
 
 of a woman — the cosine of the arc of life— to make up the 
 ideal of human existence. They therefore used to impart 
 their own magnetism to her to see the full play of the Spirit 
 so far as is possible. Unfortunately, however, their motives 
 have for a very long time been misunderstood and misrepre- 
 sented. 
 
 Thirdly, as regards the objects, we see that they were either 
 temporal or spiritual, but in no case the mere satisfaction of 
 curiosity or experiments to convince themselves or others of 
 the existence of an after life. The objects temporal are 
 many, while the object spiritual is one, namely, the union 
 with the Deity. Among the objects temporal, the Tdntriks 
 enumerate the acquisition of certain extraordinary powers, 
 which would be best ascertained by a reference of the text 
 on the subject of Sidhhi. 
 
 The Medical Aspects of the Tantras. 
 
 [Dedicated to Sir George Birdwood K. C. S. I. &c.] 
 We now come to enquire into the Medical portions of the 
 Tantras. The researches of the early Tantriks in the field of 
 medicine were, in some respects, so valuable that they laid the 
 whole of India under a debt immense of endless gratitude ; 
 yet they did not, as a fact, attempt to build a system of medi- 
 cine of their own, very probably on the ground, that the then 
 existing principles of Ayarvedic treatment, of we shall have 
 occasion to speak hereafter, appeared to them to be perfect 
 and sound. They have, however, left to us records of^their 
 individual observations and opinions in respect to medicinal 
 virtues of plants, metals and minerals used by them in medi- 
 cines, and also in respect to symptoms and treatment of di- 
 seases and preparation of drugs according to methods of their 
 own. The result has been that the system of indigenous 
 treatment now in vogue amongst the Hindus, is a mixed sys- 
 tem, partaking in some instances the character of Vedik, and 
 in some instances the character of Tantrik system. If the 
 
( 80 ) 
 
 opinion of the best Hindu physicians be respected, the Tan- 
 triic medicines are generally more powerful and more effica- 
 cious in comparatively smaller doses than the Vedik medi- 
 cines. The reason is, the Tantrik medicines partake more of 
 metals and minerals and plants of poisonous orders, which 
 were little known or known but little used in the. Vedik or 
 Puranik ages. If we go back to ancient times when men lived 
 much according to nature, we find that the medicines were 
 composed chiefly of vegetable ingredients, which could be se- 
 parately taken as food or adjuncts to food. We find certain 
 preparations called Rashyana or Brahmi Rashyani» which 
 served as panacea for all ailments presumably then prevalent 
 An analysis of the oldest Brahmi Rashyand would show that it 
 consisted of vegetable ingredients which contributed to keep 
 up the healthy tone of the stomach, to encourage due secre- 
 tions, to produce healthy stools, to nourish the system; and, 
 as its name implies, to Help the Rishis in the performance of 
 Yoga by way of governing their passions. Then as wants 
 multiplied, as articles of food and their preparations varied, 
 
 
 Brahmi Rashayand. 
 
 
 Cliata Alayoh 
 
 . Cardamum. 
 
 Satabarimul 
 
 ., 
 
 
 . . Butea frundosa. 
 
 Jibanti .. 
 
 
 Ssch 
 
 , . Zinziber ledoaria. 
 
 Maidh 
 
 .. 
 
 Earidra . . 
 
 , . Turmeric. 
 
 Bisbairak .. 
 
 .. 
 
 ' Jastimaaliu 
 
 , . Liqnorioe. 
 
 Jibak 
 
 . . Fentaptera tomentosa. 
 
 Aguru 
 
 . . Lignum aloes. 
 
 Bharanda . . 
 
 . . Castor-oil plant. 
 
 Baktachandan 
 
 . . Bed sandal. 
 
 Barala 
 
 .. Cordifolia. 
 
 Biranga .. 
 
 . . TJsedas vermifuge. 
 
 Mashpami 
 
 
 Mutha 
 
 . . Gjperus rotnndus. 
 
 Mngduparin 
 
 
 Eybarta mustak 
 
 
 Punamava 
 
 .. 
 
 Sankhyapuspi 
 
 
 Parul 
 
 . . Bignonia suave oleus. 
 
 Pipul 
 
 . . Long pepper. 
 
 Gambhari .. 
 
 . . Gmelina arborea. 
 
 Thnlkeri .. 
 
 .. Asiatica. 
 
 Bonarohal .. 
 
 
 Earitaki .. 
 
 .. Terminalia ohebula. 
 
 Qaniari 
 
 . . Spinosa Boax. 
 
 Amlaki .. 
 
 ■ . Fhyllanthu s emblica. 
 
 Billa 
 
 .. Bel. 
 
 Salimul . . 
 
 .. The roots of a variety 
 
 Golcshuri . . 
 
 .. 
 
 
 ot rice. 
 
 Kantikari .. 
 
 . . Bolanum jaoquini. 
 
 Kashmul .. 
 
 .. The roots ot Sacoharum 
 
 Prisbapaui 
 
 .. 
 
 
 Spcntaneum. 
 
 Brilmti .. 
 
 
 ' Ikshumul .. 
 
 . . The roots of Sugarcane. 
 
 shalparui .. 
 
 . . Hedysarum colUnum, 
 
 Saramul . . 
 
 
 
 
( 8i ) 
 
 as passions predominated over reason, and men were 
 estranged daily more and more from nature, new diseases as 
 well as new phases of diseases of complex types sprang up 
 aided by climatic changes. Such a preparation as Brahmi 
 Rashayand which was good enough for slight disorders, and 
 for one state of the society, was unsuited for any special 
 diseases of virulent type ; and hence investigations followed. 
 The question that naturally suggests itself here is, how did 
 the early investigators proceed in their field of investigation ? 
 What light was thrown on their path of enquiry in these 
 early times, considering the very large number of medicinal 
 plants which had been tested by them before they were intro- 
 duced in Hin^u Pharmacopoeia ? It would certainly have 
 been a very difficult problem for me to solve all at once, 
 specially in the absence of any written data on the subject, 
 if I had not been an enquirers myself in the same field in 
 ray younger days, when systematic Botany was one of my 
 pleasantest studies. The early investigators, it appears to 
 me, were guided by Rashes or tastes of barks, roots, fruits 
 and leaves of plants, and by the smell of their leaves also at 
 times. 
 
 The Rashes are primarily of six descriptions — namely, 
 (i) acid; (2) pungent; (3) bitter; (4) salt; (5) sweet; (6) 
 astringent. But it is not unoften that Rashes are found in 
 a mixed state as sweet and acid. The medicinal virtues were 
 determined at first by Rashes, and then tested by internal 
 application from small doses upwards, and their physio- 
 logical actions in the animal system observed and noted. 
 Thus sweet things have been determined to have the virtues 
 generally favourable to the growth of the system, contribu- 
 ting to the development of flesh, fat and muscles. They heal 
 up wounds, allay thirst and burning, but they produce worms 
 and increases phlegm. The acid things promote digestion and 
 dissolve hard food. They are agreeable to taste and produce 
 costiveness. The salt things promote digestion, are altera- 
 
 II 
 
( 82 ) 
 
 tives, make body weak and soft, and to a certain extent, 
 lessen the verile power. The pungent things sharpen ap- 
 petite, are heating, encourage biliary secretions, and are good 
 for worms, leprosy, itchings and irruptions. They counteract 
 poison ; and, in large doses, produce giddiness, imaciation, 
 thirst, trembling and burning sensation. 
 
 The bitter things are appetising, good for secretion of 
 milk, itching irruptions, leprosy, thirst and fever ; and are 
 alteratives and generally encourage secretions. Lastly, the 
 astringent things produce heat. They are alteratives, costive 
 and produce cutaneous irruptions, and in large doses palpita- 
 tion and loss of sense. The medicinal properties of the 
 plants were also ascertained to a great extent from the smell 
 of the leaves when crushed by the fingers. Like Rashes the 
 smell is of different descriptions, but they can be conceived, 
 and learnt by experience ; for. instance there is a peculiar 
 smell in the leaves of plants having Anodynic and Carmina- 
 tive virtues. From such general classification of medicinal 
 virtues, followed special classification of plants tested by 
 actual observation of their physiological effects ; and plants 
 were grouped in the following way 
 
 As Laxatives, 
 
 „ Expectorants, 
 
 „ Diaphoritics, 
 
 „ Emetics, 
 
 „ Depressants, 
 
 „ Stimulants, 
 
 „ Tonics, &c. 
 One thing strikes me particularly, that the medical men 
 in those remote days were specially happy in the combination 
 of plants for medicines. Let us here analize the ingredients 
 of a mixed medicine of ancient days in case of bilious fevet 
 as an illustration : 
 
 Rt. 
 
 Kantikari ... Solanum Jacquissi. 
 
 Gulanchi ... Menispermum Glabrum. 
 
( 83 ) 
 
 Bahmanhati 
 
 ... Siphonanthus Indica. 
 
 SuntJi 
 
 ... Dried Ginger. 
 
 Durallova 
 
 ... Hedysarum Alhagi. 
 
 Chirata 
 
 ... Gentiana Cheratya. 
 
 Kutki 
 
 ... Wrightea Antedysenterica. 
 
 Palta 
 
 ... Perca bifurca. 
 
 Rakta Chandan 
 
 ... Pleocarpus Santalinus. 
 
 Now it will be observed that the first ingredient in the 
 above mixture is diarutic. 'The second one is a good febrefuge, 
 the third is a diaphoritic. The fourth and sixth are well 
 known to all. The fifth is very efficacious in bile, cold, fever 
 and pains in body. The seventh is pungent and bitter and is 
 efficacious in counteracting the burning sensations in bilious 
 fever and is a febrefuge. The eighth is appetising and good 
 article of food and the ninth is efficacious in counteracting 
 cold, cough, thirst and vomiting. 
 
 The ancient medical men rarely used strong vegetable 
 poisons in medicines. Such poisons as Aconite, Nanglabisha', 
 &c., though known to the ancients, were rarely used internally. 
 Their application was chiefly external. Of the metals we 
 see iron was first introduced in medicine. Next to it was 
 gold. . Silver was seldom used. Sulphate of iron and sul- 
 phate of copper were both known and used occassionally. 
 Five kinds of salt, red-hill earth, Bangsalochun or manna of 
 bamboos were known and used. Yellow Arsenic, though 
 known, was not much used. Besides, we see some kinds of 
 grasses, cabbages and ashes of shells burnt in slow fire, used 
 in medicine. "Extracts of the flesh of birds, quadrupeds as 
 well as the fat of goats, and wine in medicinal doses, were 
 sanctioned in atonic cases. 
 
 The principles of treatment of the ancients appear to be 
 sound. They were no doubt based on large observation of 
 facts. The ancients described Health as the Equilibrium of 
 the animal system— the due performance of all the functions 
 and the due distribution of vital energy to all parts of the 
 body. The disruption of such an eqilibrium as explained 
 
( 84 ) 
 
 above has been designated as disease. Excess of fat in a 
 system is as much a disease, as the want of proper quantity of 
 fat ; and hence a physician is especially enjoined to investi- 
 gate carefully into the causes of disruption — to see what is 
 to be supplied or what is to be taken away with a view to bring 
 back equilibrium or health. 
 
 No doubt, therefore, when the Tantriks undertook the 
 examination of the medical works of the Vedic and Pouranik 
 ages, they' esteemed very highly the ancient method of treat- 
 ment, and did not, for this simple reason, build a system of 
 their own ; but they have left records of their own observa- 
 tions. The result has been as said before, a mixed system 
 of treatment as at present in vogue amongst us. The ques- 
 tion now is what services did the Tantriks do to medicine 
 that they claim the gratitude of all India ? The question can 
 hardly be answered in one word. If the Tantriks had done 
 nothing more than discovered and introduced the various 
 preparations of mercury, sulphur, arsenic and mica, they had 
 done enough to claim the gratitude of all India. Hov^ many 
 thousands of patients suffering from chronic diseases and 
 given up by the western faculty of medicine, have been 
 brought back to life and health by the Hindu preparatioa of 
 mercury and arsenic ? The preparations of red and yellow 
 arsenic were variously used by the Tantriks in leprosy, in 
 atonic cases as well as in collapsed stages. The preparations 
 of mica were introduced by them with considerable benefit 
 in chest complaints. Sulphate of copper in cases of fever 
 attended with gonorrhoea, Nisadal in chest complaints, copper 
 in spleen attended with or without fever, lead in urinary 
 diseases, diamond and pokhraj in chest complaints attended 
 with fever, Samomakshi or copper pyrites iti cases in which 
 the system is to be nourished when prostration is due to 
 urinary diseases. Sulphate of iron in checking hemorrhage. 
 They ajso introduced vegetable poisons such as aconite, nux- 
 vomica, croton tiglium, thorn-apple, nanguli, durmaj (a sort 
 
( 85 ) 
 
 of poisonous wood) and surbatikshi. These are some of the 
 principal poisonous plants discovered by them. There are 
 many such plants equally useful, such as a plant known by 
 the name ot Akore, the oil of the Seeds of which is said by 
 the Tantriks to possess wonderful virtues. Indeed they speak 
 so highly of the plant, that an analysis of it and its trial may 
 bring to light its life-giving virtues. What arsenic is among 
 minerals, Akore is said tcJ be among vegetables in respect to 
 medidal properties. It is the endeavour of our Society to 
 procure the plant and its seeds, and to analize them. 
 
 That the Tantriks had a sufficient knowledge of chemistry, 
 there is not a shadow of doubt. The divers processes of 
 dissoving of minerals, their sublimation and mixing together, 
 amply shew that they possessed, a fair knowledge of 
 chemistry. Indeed when one after leaving medicine comes to 
 examine the Indrajal or the magical portion of the Tantras, 
 there lingers not a doubt in his mind, that the Tantriks pos- 
 sessed a tolerable knowledge of chemistry. 
 
 The portion of the Tantras on the treatment of poisons, 
 requires in our estimation a careful examination, and, if 
 possible, a translation in English. In one place it has been 
 mentioned that in cases of snakebite, the person bitten 
 should, if possible, be made to sit immersed in the waters 
 of a stream, and the water of the stream, should be poured 
 on his head until he is free from poison. The mode of 
 treatment, although very wise, did not convince me altogether 
 of the perfect efficacy of the treatment. Our doubts however 
 were reni.ov.ed not, long after, when we read in the Statesman 
 the report of an exactly similar mode of treatment adopted 
 by a . European, which saved the life, of an Indian in North 
 India. Tlie chapters on Prognostications of Death are useful. 
 . Indeed some of them are very wise, as for instance, when a 
 patient does not see while pressing the eyeball with a finger 
 the usual halo of light, he is not expected to live for more 
 than ten days. This is a practical lesson learnt by observation. 
 
( 86 ) 
 
 which shows that the loss of the vital energy of the man 
 has been full. 
 
 We give below a catalogue of the most important medi- 
 cinal plants used in the Vedik and Tantrik ages. It was our 
 endeavour to separate the medicinal plants of two different 
 ages, but we regret to say we could not— not that we were 
 wanting in either patience or industry, but that we find 
 mention of the names of many Tantrik plants and minerals 
 in the principal Ayurvedik treatises which shew that the dis- 
 coveries made by the Tantriks were gradually incorporatect 
 in Ayurvedik treatises. It was by preparing two separate 
 catalogues that we found out the difficulty. We have there- 
 fore marked out with a star those plants which are unguestion-' 
 ably Tantrik. We have given this time the catalogue merely. 
 The virtues of the plants are reserved for a future paper. 
 
 I Aguru, Aloe's wood. 2 Aswagandha, Physalis ilexuosa. 
 3 Aknad, Cissampelos hexendra. 4 Atush. 5 Aswathd, Re- 
 ligiosa. 6 Amlaki, Emblica. 7 Arjun, Arjuna (combretaceae). 
 8 Asan also called Fiasal, Pentaptera tomentosa. 9 Amrull, 
 Jambosa (alba Roxb). 10 Amrataka, Bark of mangifera; 
 II Ajasringi also called Jeol, Odina Woodier. 12 Atasi also 
 called Mosina, Linum Usitatissimum. 13 Atibala and Bala, 
 Andropogon Schoenanthus. 14 Anantamuld, Periploca.indica. 
 IS Aparajita, Albiflora. 16 Apamargi, Achyranthes aspera. 
 17 Arkd,. 18 Arjak also called Babuitulshi, Ochymum gratis- 
 simum. 19 Asoki, Asoca Roxb. 20 Alabu, White Pumpkin. 
 21 Astisanghar also called Harjora. 22 Akasbulli Filiformis 
 L. 23 Akrote also called Akhota, Triloba, Forst. 24 Aditya' 
 bhakta also called Hurhuria, Calotropis gigantea. 25 Adrakd, 
 Zingiber. 26 Alkusi, Carpopogon preurieus Roxb. 27 
 Ahiphain,» Opium. 28 Akore*. 29 Akhsaj-ja.» 30 Agasta- 
 kusum», Sesbana grandiflora. 31 Ingudi also called Jeaputa 
 or Lataphatki.* 32 Indrajava,* Wrightea antidyscutirica^ 
 33 Ikshu, Sugarcane. 34 Irbaru also called Kankuri* Cucumis 
 Utilatissimus. 35 Urumbar also called Dumur*, Ficus glome- 
 
( 87 ) 
 
 rata. 36 Usir also called Bainarmul,* Andropogoh Murica- 
 tum. 37 Aila, Alpina cardamomum. 38 Airandi, Riscinus 
 speciosus. 39 Aiiaych, Cardamomum. 40 Katki, Wrightea 
 antidysenterica also Calotropis gigantea. 41 Katusvvi also 
 called Tita Lawoo, a bitter gourd. 42 Katfal, Gmelina arborea. 
 43 Kantakari, Virginianum. 44 Kadamva, Cadamba Roxb. 
 45 Kadali, Plantain. 46 Kotbail, Woodapple. 47 Kamalaguri. 
 48 Karabi,* Nerium odorum. 49 Kurkatsringi, Rheedii. 50 
 Kankrole, Momordica Charantia. 51 Kurpur, Camphor. 52 
 Kamranga, Carambola. 53 Kanakdhutura, Datura fastuasa. 
 54 Kaisur, Eclipta. 55 Kakjangha, Robusta Roxb. 56 
 Kakmachi.. 57 Kishmish, Grapes. 58 Kakdumur, Opposi- 
 tifolia. S9 Kanuk also called Joypal, Vide Joypal. 60 Kalka- 
 sunda, Seuna purpurea Roxb. 61 Kurchi, Kurchi. 62 Kusun- 
 der also called Kuksim, Celsia L. 63 Karpasi, Herbaceum. 
 64 Kulanjan, Galanga Major. 65 Kusa, Cynosuroodes. 66 
 Kur, Castus speciosus. 67 Kushanda, Benincosa. 68 Krish- 
 najera, Sativa L. 69 Krishnaguru, Aquillaria Agallocha. 70 
 Kaitaki. 71 Kaisraj, Calendulacea, Less.- 72 KakoH.* 73 
 Kutnud,* Nymphaea esculenta. 74 Kunda,* Jasminum pubes- 
 ceus. 75 Kuch (root of white kuch).» y6 Kasurtai.* 77 
 Karanja, (seed).* 78 KuHakara (seed),* Capparis spinosa. 79 
 Kachla.* 80 Khodir,* Mimosa Catechu. 81 Khajur*, Phoenix 
 Sylvestris. 82 Gandha maduli. 83 Gakshur. 84 Ganiary. 85 
 Gambhawy, Gmelina arborea. 86 Goruck chakulai. 87 Goo- 
 gool, Lignum Aloes. 88 Gulancha', Menispermum glabrum. 
 8g Gujapipuli, Pothas officinatis. 90 Gandha Trina', Andropo- 
 gon Schcenawtus; 91 Gandhali, Pederia fcetida. 92 Gunga', 
 Abrus precatorius. 93 Guratwak. 94 Grishna sunder or 
 Gimasak, Chironia centauroides. 95 Gojiarmul or root of 
 Gojia,* Premna esculenta. 96 Ghrita kumari, Aloe perfoli- 
 ata. 97 Ghulghasia also called Dranapushpa. 98 Ghoshtola 
 (yellow).* 99 Chakoolai, Hemionitis cardifolia. 100 Choye, 
 Piper Chuvya. loi Chita, Plumbago rosea. 102 Chirata', 
 Gentiana Cherayta. 103 Chitrak, Plumbago rosea. 104 
 
( 88 ) 
 
 Chookapalonga', Rumex vesicarius. lOS Chandan, Santa- 
 lum album. 106 Chorak also called Piringshak, Trigo- 
 nella corniculata. 107 Champak (root of the Champak),* 
 Michelia Champaca. 108 Chalta (root of Chalta) * Dellenia 
 indica. 109 Chatim, Alstonia Scholaris. no Chota ailachj- 
 Cardamiims. in Cholanga Nabu, Species of citron. 112 
 Chik-kani also called, Hanchuti, Artimisia sternutatoria. 
 113 Jibak, Pentaptira tomentosa. ' 114 JibantL 115 Jaya- 
 fal, Nutmeg. 116 Jibak. 117 Jatamanshi, Valeriana 
 Jatamansi. 118 Jisal, Odina Woodier. 119 Jam, Eugenia 
 Jambolana. 120 Jayatri (white) Aeschynomene Sesban. 
 121 Jayapal, Coroton Tiglium. 122 Jatifal, Nutmeg. 
 123 Jaba.* 124 Jeebputrica (seed).* 125 Joitri, Albumen 
 Nutmeg. 126 Jhinti. 127 Jhanti, Barleria cristala. 128 Da- 
 barkanja. 129 Dangarifal. 130 Daloo. 131 Taiuri, Con- 
 volvolus Turpethum. 132 Tintiree, Tamarindus indica. 
 133 Taijpata, Laurno Cassia. 134 Taila-kucha, Momor- 
 dica Monodelpha. 135 Tita-laoo, A bitter gourd. 136 
 Tulsi, Ocymum Sanctum. 137 Til, Sesamum Orientale. 
 138 Tamal. 139 Tambul, Piper Betle. 140 Tit-tiri, Perdix 
 Francolinus. 141 Tagarpadik, Tabernaemontana coronaria. 
 142 Tagar (root of tagar).* 143 Taleesh (leaf),* Flatourtia 
 cataphracta. 144 Thulkuree, Hydrocotyle asiatica. 145 
 Draksha, Vitis vinifera ( grape ). 146 Darchini, Cinnamon. 
 147 Durolata. 148 Daibdaru, Pinus longifolius. 149 IDurb-ba, 
 Panicum Dactylon. i5o*Dasamool, A medicament composed 
 of ten-roots. 151 Dantee, Croton Polyandrum. 152 Daru- 
 haridra, Xanthaxylon alatom. 153 Darim, Punica granate. 
 154 Daib-Danee. 155 Dantotpal. 156 Dhieeful, Grislea tomen- 
 tosa. 157 Dhan-nah,Con"andrum sativum. 158 Dhun a, Species 
 of Shorea. 159 Dhustar, Datura Metel. 160 Neelotepal, 
 Nymphsea cyanea. 161 Nagcaishar. 162 Nimda, Melia Azad- 
 derachta Roxb. 163 Neelbumha. 164 Nakhee, Bivalve shell 
 used as a medicine. 165 Nagbala, Alba L. 166 Nisinda, Vitex 
 Negunda, 167 Nisadal. 168 Nalitashak, Species of amaranthus. 
 
( 89 ) 
 
 l69 Nagdantee. i7oNagdona. 171 Narangee Naibu.a kind of 
 
 orange. 172 Narikail (root of Narikail), Cqcos nucifera. 173 
 
 Nata, Caesalpinia bonducella. 174 Preeshmiparnee also called 
 
 Chakulia, Hemionitis cordifolia. 175 Parul, Bignonia suave 
 
 alens. 176 Punarnaba, Boerhaavia diffusa. 177 Pipul, Piper 
 
 Ipngum. 178 Palash, Butea frondosa. *i79 Padma, Nelum- 
 
 bium speciosum. 180 Piongu. 181 Palta, Leaves of 
 
 Trichosanthes dioica. 182 Paniful, Trapa bicornis. 183 
 
 Pasan-vaidee, Plectranthus aromaticus. 184 Pu-i-sak, Basella 
 
 alba and Rubra. 185 Pilufal, Careya arboria. 186 Palita 
 
 Madar, Erythrina fulgeus. 187 Pitvringaraj. 188 Pun- 
 
 nahu, Rqttlera tinctoria. 189 Palandu * Allium Cepa. 190 Pus- 
 
 kar (root of Puskar),* Nelumbiam speciosum. 191 Paruli 
 
 (root of Paruli),* Suaveolens Roxb. 192 Pakurd, Ficus 
 
 infectoria. 193 Paitari (leaf of Paitari),* Sida asiatica. 
 
 194 Piashal ( fruit of Piashal ),* Pentoptera tomentosa. 
 
 19s Putin. 196 Phowkadi Joan. 197 Baraha- 
 
 kranta. 198 Bat, Ficus indica. 199 Brihati, Solanum 
 
 hirsutum; 200 Bibla,Aegle Marmelos. 201 Bairala, Rhom- 
 
 bdidea Roxb. 202 Bivitak, Terminalia Bellerica. 203 Bir- 
 
 anga. 204 Bach, Acorus calamus. 205 Bashak, 
 
 Justicia adhatoda. 206 Brahmee shak 207 Bahara, 
 
 Terminalia Bellerica. 208 Bungshalochan, Manna of 
 
 Bamboos. 209. Bala, Andropogon schoenanthus. 210 
 
 Bainair Mool. 211 Bwakur, Solanum indicum, 212 Babu- 
 
 i-tulshi, Basilicum Indicum. 213 Bahman Hatee, Siphonan- 
 
 thus indica. 214 Bis-langalee. 215 Bait,, Calamus rotang. 
 
 216 Bata Sunga. 217 Brischik-Patree (Bat), Ficus indica. 
 
 218 Bak,» Sesbana grandiflora. 219 Badari (Baj),* Zizyphiis 
 
 Jujubas. 220 Brahma-dandee (root).* 221 Bejoya (leaf)*. 
 
 2Z2 Banubaraka, Cordia myxa. 223 Bhairanda, Ricinus. 
 
 224 Bhoomwalakee. 235 Bhomi-Kuswando, Cucurbit pepo. 
 
 226 Bhallatak. 227 Bhringo-raj, Verbesinia calendulacea. 
 
 228 Bhadra-Mustak. 229 Bhookaisse. 230 Marich, Black 
 
 pepper, pepper. 231 Mundook-parnee. 232 Mugdaparnee. 
 12 
 
( go ) 
 
 233 Masparnee. 234 Mutha, Rotundus U. 235 Maida 236 
 Madhooph-puspa. 237 Malatee, Jasminum grandiflorum. 238 
 -Mau^fal. 239 Madanfal, Vangueria Spinosi 240 Mayanafal. 
 241 Mana-Sila, Red-arsenica. 242 Mcoh-rasa, Bombax-heptai, 
 plyllum. 243 Mashina, Linum Usitatiosum. 244 Mathuya, 
 Callicarpaincana. 245 Manasa. 246 Manjista. 247 Madhurica 
 (Joy^sty). Anethum Panmoriutn. 248 Maithee-sak, Trigonells 
 Foenum greeum. 249 Mahakal.S 250 Muramangshy.* 
 251 Mahendra (seed).* 252 Markat Bal-ly.* 253 Maithy* 
 Trigoneella Foenum grcum. 254 Murmuria,* Scirpus scboe- 
 noides. 255 Jasti-Madhu. 256 Joothica, Jasminum aurkula- 
 'tum. 257 Janga-Dumur, Ficus glomerata. 258 Jabankur. 
 259 Jamanee. 260 Jabakshar. 261 Rakta-Kanchan, Bauhinia 
 variegata. 162 Rakta-Chandan, Pterocarpus santalinus. 
 263 Rakhal-sasa, Ornitroplic serrata. 264 Rasma, Ophioxy- 
 lum serpintara. 265 Rasutn, Allium sativum. 266 Randhu- 
 nee, Apium involucratum. 267 Rudraksha.* Elaescarpus' 
 ganitrus. 268 Rochana (seed).* 269 Rudra-Danti (root.)* 
 270 Losra. 271 Langoolee (root),* The name of various 
 plants. Gloriosa supertea, leommelina salacifolia, Nama re- 
 peus, and Jussiena repeus. 272 Latafatkir (oil).* 273 Laj- 
 jabuti-Iata.« 274 Shal-parnee, Hedysarum gangeticum. 
 275 Shatabary. 276 Sharmul, Saccharum Sara. 277 Sankha- 
 puspy. 27S Shatamulee, Asparagus recemosus. 279 Shuya- 
 Shimbee. 280 Shatee, the name of the zerumbet of the 
 shops (Curcuma eerumbet). The name is also applied to the 
 Mango-scented ginger or rather turmeric (Curcuma Amhuldi). 
 281 Shinshapa. 282 Shunta, Dried Ginger; 283 Shonaloo. 
 284 Shalufa, Anthum Sowa. 285 Shwaitsara, Brassi Caero- 
 coides. 286 Shasa. 287 Shirees, Acacia Sirisa. 288 Shra- 
 bany. 289 Shovarjan, Hyperanthera Morunga. 290 Shwait- 
 Kanchan. 291 Shwait Akanda,* The white variety of Calo- 
 tropis gigantea. 292 Shwait Chandan.* 293 Shiba»jata.» 
 294 Sharpunkha (root).* 295 Shusnisak.* 296 Shalmaly 
 puspa,* Bombax heptaphylla. 297 Shafalica, Nyctanthus 
 
( 91 ) 
 
 arbortritis. 298 Suchimukhy, Sausivielar zeylanica. 299 Sij 
 (ash). 300 Som-raj, Serratula anthelmintica. 301 Supary, 
 Areca catechu. 302 Smuhi. 303 Sami. 304 Sidhy (seed.) 
 30s Sarja, Shorea robusta. 306 Haritaky, Terminalia chebula. 
 307 Hing, Assafcetida. 308 Harjora, Cissus quadrongularis. 
 309 Habusa. 310 Hur-Huria, Achyranthes aspera. 311 Hij- 
 jal, Barringtonia acutangulia. 312 Huridra, Curcuma longa. 
 313 Hingu,* Assafcetida, 313 Hastikarna.* 
 
 LECTURE-IV. 
 
 SOME THOUGHTS ON THE GITA. 
 
 [The following lecture delivered at the annual meeting . of the Cal- 
 cutta Psycho-Religious .Society on the 8th May 1891, by the Secretary 
 of the institution, has been dedicated by him to Sir George Birdnvood, 
 KC.I.E.,C.'S.I.,M.D.,L.L.D., Vice-Chairman of the London Congress of Ori- 
 entalists, as a token of esteem and gratitude for the kind interest he has 
 taken in his writings.] 
 
 There is, peahaps, no place in all India where a traveller 
 is feasted with such diversity of natural sceneries as in the 
 Narmada Tracts of Central India. Travellers after travellers 
 have sung their notes of praise concerning them from the 
 dim dawn of history down to our own bright times, and 
 travellers after travellers may do the same in countless years 
 to come, and still something^ new, something interesting will 
 remain to he told about them ; indeed so lovely, so soft, so 
 rich, so wild, so ever-changing, and so delightful are the 
 scenes. Whether we look at the dark basaltic cliffs standing 
 in solitary grandeur and contrast them with the soft undulat- 
 ing meadows, or whether we look at the sparkling waters 
 of the falls, or at the dense lines of forests where no human 
 foot has yet disturbed their primeval grandeur, or whether 
 we look at the bright expanse of the Narmada, or at the 
 wild confusion of " rocks and foliage" and foliage and rocks, 
 or at the soft sylvan scenes of the "woody islets" with 
 immense varieties of birds, beasts and insects, we cannot 
 
( 92 ) 
 
 help exclaiming in rapture ,,'' Nature thou art truly lovely 
 and grand ! Thou hast taught, delighted and inspired 
 humanity and shall do so ever more." Alike are the feelings 
 of admiration, love and delight awakened in the heart of 
 every Hindu when he finishes his perusal of the Gita. He 
 too cannot help himself without apostrophysing the work 
 and inwardly exclaiming at the same time, "Thou art, O Gita;: 
 the brightest spiritual treasure of the Hindus, the uncreated; 
 light of the Aryavarta ! Thou hast taught some nations thy 
 sublime doctrines of meekness, forgiveness and holy resigna- 
 tion. Thou hast taught some thy doctrines of Nirvand and 
 Re-incarnation though novy not well understood by them. 
 Thou hast also taught some others thy sacred precepts. of 
 the necessity of waging holy war, not the extermination of 
 human beings— not the desolation of their homes and 
 countries, but the extermination of the unrighteous self with 
 its formidable army of passions and desires ; but thou hast 
 reserved for thy own sacred land, Hindustan, the spiritual 
 wealth of Yoga, now dimly seen and earnestly enquired 'by 
 the West. 
 
 The poetsofall civilized countries have rendered thee 
 into their respective languages. The thoughtful' and the 
 pious have done thee homage. The sectarians and blind 
 critics have tried hard to find fault with thee, but thou art, 
 what thou art— tlie ray divine on earth— the tree celestial 
 that bears the heavenly manna— the mirror of the spiritual 
 grandeur of heaven— the beaconlight in the tempestuoi!is» sea 
 of worldliness. The other great Books of the earth have 
 their likenesses in thee, but thou art only like thyself. For 
 me to sing thy glory is a presumption, to strive to explaiii,; 
 thy holy texts is i>eyond my abilities. All that I here 
 propose myself to do, is to attempt to transfer into pen and 
 Jink sketches those visions of glory that came at times flitting 
 into my mind after a perusal of thy texts, and cast their 
 reflections in the sensitive plates of my heart. But poor as 
 
( 93 ) 
 
 the attempt promises to be, and poorer still the sketches, 
 they require a back ground for light and shade. Sprung 
 fromthe same royal line, yet born of two brothers of different 
 characters were Judhistir, and his four righteous brothers on 
 the side of the Pandava family, and the unrighteous Durja- 
 dhana on the side of the Kuru. Judhistir and his brothers 
 lost their father at a tender age and were brought up by their 
 blind uncle Dhritorastra — the father of Durjadhana'. When 
 Judhistir came to age, he by right of premogeniture, was 
 entitled to mount the throne' of his father, which he did ; but 
 his cousin Durjadhana led by the machinations of his evil- 
 minded blind father, challenged him to a game of dice. As a 
 prince and a warrior by caste, he, according to the rules of the 
 society, could not but accept the challenge. In this iniquitous 
 game he lost all — his wealth and kingdom — for a certain 
 period, twelve years, during which he and his brothers, with 
 their joint spouse Drapadi, were to remain far away from the 
 capital in some unknown parts of India. They fulfilled their 
 vows, and when after twelve years .they came back to claim 
 the throne, they were told to go back. With a view, however, 
 to avoid a civil war, they asked for five villages adjacent to 
 the capital to hide themselves ; but the blind man in the 
 name of his son the king, sent word to say that they would 
 not have so much of eartfi as could be contained on the head 
 of a needle. The result was a declaration of war. Lord • 
 Krishna' sided with none ; but as he saw Arjuna', the brother 
 of Judhistir first, he told him that he would be his charioteer 
 and conduct his chariot to the field of battle. When the 
 armies oi Kuru and Pandava mzt in the field of Kurukshetra', 
 Arjuna' saw the warriors with whom he was to fight. He saw 
 many of his nearest relations. He saw his venerable Guru, 
 Dranacharjeaj from whom he received his first military lessons* 
 He saw also the sage and mighty warrior Vishna', and con- 
 scious of his superior abilities, he sighed at the prospect of 
 carnage that was to follow immediately. His heroism forsook 
 
( 94 ) 
 
 him for a time. He put back his weapons, hung down his 
 head, and told Srikrishna' that he would not fight. The Lord, 
 who knew all hearts, who knew all causes and consequences, 
 the past, present and future, read the thoughts of Arjuna', 
 smiled and said what forms the subject of the immortal Gita. 
 Some years ago, while I was passing one evening by the 
 Lower Chitpore Road, my attention was drawn by a friend 
 
 a 
 
 to a picture in the shop of a vendor of scents. It was a 
 curious picture, the like of which I have not seen one since: 
 It was a water-colour drawing, which, when viewed from one 
 side, presented the picture of a tiger lying in ambush, but 
 when seen from the other side, it shewed a ship sailing in a 
 sea, such indeed is the picture presented to me by the Gita. 
 It reads as an advocacy of a fearful civil war that once 
 destroyed the best warriors of India-^^that cast a gloom and 
 desolation over the sacred Aryavarta'— that led brothers to 
 fight with brothers, desciples with their Gurus, grandsons with 
 their grandsires. Seen from the other side, it may be sublime 
 allegory — an allegory representing the best powers of a holy 
 and mighty mind enrapport with the Highest Mind as being 
 called into play to save man from the vassalge ot self and 
 sin ; for who was blind Dhritarastra', but the blind self ; 
 and his son Durjadhana' with his formidable army, but the 
 primary Lust born of self and all the evil desires and cravings 
 of the heart, so varied and numerous under varied circom- 
 stances of life and its objects. Then again who was Judhistif^ ' 
 but the personification of truth and justice, and who were his 
 four brothers, but the personifications of health and bodily 
 vigor, of moral courage and prowess, of piety and innocence, 
 known by the names of Bhima, Arjund, Nakul and Sahadeb. 
 The story of Judhistfr and his brothers having lost their 
 father at a tender age and were brought up by their blind' 
 uncle, means that in infancy the Great Protector watchel 
 ovef all, and that as soon as a child learns to help itself it 
 throws itself gradually into the powers of the blind selt It 
 
( 95 ) 
 
 now kicks and fights and throws its limbs on all sides with 
 the consciousness and pride of a little man. It cries and 
 laughs under the control of the blind self ; and we call these 
 acts of the child as its whims. Justice or injustice it knoweth, 
 not and recketh not, it is then such a little self Then with 
 the first advent of youth, when the petals of the mind open 
 themselves one by one, he sees all men alike. He is often 
 generous, brave and self-denying, and loves his species with 
 all the ardour of a romantic youth. It is at this time that he 
 bravely comes forward to file his claim for the Kingdom of 
 Heaven ; but the Evil Prakriti to frustrate the intentions of a 
 generous heart, tempts him to a game of dice, and leads him 
 to scenes where he forgets all, truth, sincerity, health and 
 family-heritage, and remains unknown to his celestial rela- 
 tions for a period of about twelve years. Then in the prime 
 of manhood when reason detects the sophistries of sin, and 
 experience reveals their bitterness, that he comes back to the 
 capital to claim his father's kingdom. Now comes the self- 
 conflict— the open breach — the bloody conflict : — The unre- 
 lenting self refusing to yield an inch of its supremacy. At 
 this moment of danger, this crisis of being, he, in the sincerity 
 of his distress and in the agony of his conscience, calls on the 
 Lord to help him and he asks not in vain. All-merciful as He 
 is. He says distinctly to the penitent son, " I am with thed." 
 "Fear not my son, I will lead the car of your spiritual aspira- 
 tion to the' field of battle." When the hopeful man thus 
 assured by Heaven, and armed with resolution comes to fight 
 the actual battle, he sees his former relations, his once dear 
 associates aud friends, his heroism forsakes him for a while, 
 he pauses to ponder — fight or give up the battle ? But the 
 kind Lord who knows his good resolution, who found him 
 penitent and sincere, who knows that the slightest vacillation 
 at this .supreme critical moment— this hour of destiny (a des- 
 tiny either towards Heaven or towards Hell), would decide 
 his fate perhaps for ever and make him a lost man, urges him 
 
( 96 ) 
 
 to fight. He argues with him with all the love and patience 
 of a best Teacher, and then when He sees that faith has 
 gained considerable ground in him, and ardour has once again 
 fired his bosom, he shews to him for a moment— a brief 
 moment — His Bishaya rupa, or the Universal Form— in which 
 are centred all laws and relations, all causes and conse- 
 quences, the best affections of the best men, the ceaseless 
 cycle of existence, the lily peace and solar splendour of the 
 spiritual heavens, the wealth and splendour of the material . 
 universe together with the destruction of the entire army of 
 Durjadhana.or Primary Lust. The penitent son looks dazed 
 for a while. His eyes are dazzled, his ears enchanted, his: 
 senses paralized as was in the instance of Arjuna. He prays 
 to the Lord to shut the scene which he can no longer hold 
 within himself, and begs that he may talk to him as friend, 
 embrace him as father, instructor and guide. The Lord smiles 
 an. affectionate smile and becomes again his charioteer. The 
 scene vanishes as a dream — an enchantment of a master 
 magician in which all that was ideal, all that was terrestrial, 
 all that was terrific, all that was serene, all that was celestial 
 and sweet, and all that was glorious and great, blinded in 
 the wisest and happiest harmony. His vision was gone, but it 
 left its remembrances behind— He falls on his knees and 
 prays. The Lord kindly assures him that all that he saw was 
 real, but it was the Prakriti (the material) that drew the veil. 
 Havmg vouchsafed to the believer and sincere glimpses of 
 Immortal Life, he describes to him the Yogas by which he is 
 to attain it. Such is to me the sum and substance of the im- 
 mortal Gita. We shall now see what these Yogas are and 
 what spiritual wealth is contained in them. 
 
 The saying "read Homer and read no more," applies so 
 
 aptly to the Holy Gita ; for it does not only contain in a con- ' 
 
 cise form the best thoughts of the best thinkers from Manu 
 
 and Kapila downwards, but it has in its own individual lines, 
 
 •"a museum of thoughts", as has been said by Professor Sir 
 
( w ) 
 
 Monler Williams, beginning from the social and moral duties 
 of man and stretching high onwards as far as God. The 
 entire book is divided into eighteen sections, which, with the 
 exception of the first and the eleventh, deal exclusively with 
 different kinds of Yogas, a detailed list of which is given be- 
 low in a concise form : — 
 
 Section 2 ■ deals with Sankhyd Yoga — according to 
 which the spirit remains untouched and unaffected 
 through all physical and outward changes in life. 
 Section 3 deals with Karmd Yogd, i.e., according to the 
 nature of the work a man does in his life-time, he 
 lays ths foundation of his spiritual life. 
 Section 4 deals '^x'Ca.jnan Yogd, i. e. according to indivi- 
 dual cultivation of jnan or spiritual knowledge, a 
 man is to see the excellence of his spiritual life to 
 come. 
 Section 5 deals with Sonyasd Yogd under which a man 
 should surrender himself in good and evil, in pleasure 
 and plain, in every action of his life from walking and 
 smiling, to the most solemn and sacred discharge of 
 his duties, to the Lord. 
 Section 6 deals with Dhayand Yogd, or meditation — a 
 Yoga by which the mind is to be directed undistur- 
 bedly to the Lord. The man who does this never 
 loses sight of the Lord, and the Lord never loses sight 
 of him as has been pointedly mentioned in the 
 Gita. 
 Section 7 deals with Bijnan Yogd by which Pard and 
 
 Aprrd, i. e'., God and matter are known. 
 Section 8 deals with Tarak Bramha Yogd on the Yoga 
 by which a dying man is enabled to think of God as 
 his only Saviour. 
 Sections 9 and 10 deal with the questions in regard to the attainment 
 
 of psychic powers. 
 Section 12 deals with BJmhli Yoga or the love of God. 
 
 13 
 
( 98 > 
 
 Section 13 deals with Puj-usa PraJcriti Bibfiag ioga whereby the dis- 
 tinction between matter and spirit and the powers of the 
 latter over the former are to be known. 
 Section 14 deals with jtmatroya Bibhag Yoga, by which the three 
 states, Satwa, Raja, and Tama, or Progress, Balance and Des- 
 truction, work physically as well as spiritually for the good of all. 
 Section ij deals with Furusatom Toga by which God is to be known 
 
 as the Best and the Highest Being. 
 Section l6 deals with Dyvasura Sampati Bihhag Yogd by which 
 the qualifications of the Devatas and Ashuras are distin- 
 guished. 
 Section 17 deals with Sradhatraya Bibhag Yogd by which the three 
 kinds of love, Swatik, Rajashik and Tamashik are distin- 
 guished. 
 Section 18 deals with Muksiha Yogd or the yoga of salvation. 
 What we call pleasure atid what we call plain, what we call 
 wealth and what we call poverty, what we call health and 
 what we call disease, what we call relation and what we call 
 friend, what we call beauty and what we call uglines;?, are 
 but relations of life (purport of sloka 14, section II). They 
 come with life, and cease when life ceases. The spirit alone 
 is eternal, and constant amidst earthly changes (purport of 
 slokas 18 and 25) ; for it had existed before life and shall 
 exist after it. A man of sense should not pine or lose heart 
 for what is temporary and transitory (purport of sloka 27), 
 He should not mourn for what seems to be a temporary loss 
 or sacrifice. That which is a ten>porary loss may be often 
 a gain on the side of the eternal. If the external senses are 
 shut up for a while, the internal ones would be exalted. If 
 the temptations of flesh are sacrificed from a sense of duty 
 at the altar of Justice, a bright godly feelirlg— the feeling of 
 love for all creatures alike, would instantly arise out of the 
 sacrifice to make the man eternally happy. The Astronomersl 
 tell us that "at the time of the lunar eclipse the shadow which 
 the earth casts on the moon is always circular, and nothing 
 but a sphere can give such shadow on all sides." We say 
 here likewise, that if a cause be not dual, to what are we to 
 
( 99 ) 
 
 ascribe the duality of consequence ? If the flesh and the 
 spirit had been one and the same thing in man, what would 
 have pleased the senses, would have invariably pleased the 
 spirit also ; but as a fact it does not. 
 
 The most thoughtless reprobate and the hardened thief 
 cannot do without a compunction those acts against morality 
 which contribute to them temporary and seeming happiness. 
 Patent, therefore, as the fact is, that the Atma (soul) is 
 separate from the body, some men, says the^Gita, view it with 
 wonder, some hear of it with wonder, some speak of it with 
 wonder, and there are yet some who cannot understand what 
 they hear (sloka 29). Such is the purport of the Sunkhya 
 Yoga. Then as the dawn opens into day, the bud opens into 
 flower, the Sunkhya Yoga opens into the grand Hindu 
 doctrine of Karma now seriously enquired by the thinkers 
 of the West. If, as we have said before, the outward or 
 accidental circumstances of life do not affect the spirit, the 
 work a man does in his life-stime does it. Ugliness or beauty, 
 wealth or poverty, &c., does not alter the inner man ; for 
 could it act otherwise, the poor and the ugly would never 
 have risen to greatness, and in some instances commanded 
 the admiration of the world ; but an unjust action by whom- 
 soever done, if done consciously taints ttx? soul and makes 
 it unhappy until the fire of penance removes the taint. 
 Instances after instances we have both read and heard of 
 persons, who having done some serious injury to their neigh- 
 bours in the hey-day of their lives, and in the height of their 
 power were so uneasy, so unhappy, as to give up everything 
 they had on their death-bed to hear one word— the word 
 'forgiveness' from the lips of the injured. So far, therefore, 
 as the statement is concerned that an unjust or an immoral 
 action taints the soul, all nations agree without division. But 
 the author of the Gita and the Bhagbat thought more on the 
 subject of Karmd and seems to have realised more. He sa^s 
 that actions good and bad done in life, go to build up the 
 
( 100 ) 
 
 spiritual form of a man. The form is either celestia), etherial 
 or earthy, resplendant, bright or dark according to the nature 
 of the work done. As a Jalawka (leech) does not leave one 
 support until it gets another, the soul does not leave the 
 earthly body till the spiritual one is ready to receive it. It 
 has been said by the Rev. L. J. A. Alexander Stem that " we 
 have laid it down above as a fundamental truth that the 
 human soul is immaterial, because Ve do not see it when it • 
 leaves the body ; but we are not to conclude that being im- 
 material, the disembodied soul can under no tircumstance 
 make itself visible. It will be acknowledged that the soul 
 is not merely a power, but a substance, and that it therefore 
 requires an organization suited to the spiritual world. If the 
 soul on leaving body, had no organization, no shape, no cover, 
 it would be difficult to conceive how it could escape being 
 dissolved and swallowed up by the ocean of universal life." 
 Yes, the soul has an organization suited to the spiritual world, 
 and, that, so to speak, every muscle and every tissue of that 
 organization is, according to the Hindu doctrine of Karma, 
 to be made of a man's work, good or bad. In these days 
 of science when every thought, every sound, is said to have a 
 material entity, it is not difficult to cpnceive that every en- 
 nobling or every debasing impulse or feeling that actuates 
 a man to do a generous or a selfish act, would have an entity 
 of its own. And then by the law of homogeneousness, 
 that universal law which rules alike the material and the 
 spiritual universe, such entities form for the spirit an envelope 
 called petesprit to distinguish it from another. Of virtue, or 
 of every act of self-sacrifice it has been said in the Gita that 
 it is so powerful a factor even in this life, that it saves a man 
 from the greatest of terrors (last line of sloka 40). Yet 
 Karmd which gives to every man his wishes — to the business 
 man his material prosperity, to the yogi his powers, to the 
 spiritual his transcendal virtues, is too poor and too trifling 
 a thing for him who only seeks the Lord and lives in Him 
 
( lOI ) 
 
 (purport of sloka, 49). In poverty or in wealth, in sadness 
 or in happiness, in good and in evil, he who does his work in 
 a spirit of absolute resignation to the will of the Lord and looks, 
 not forward for reward, ot punishment, neither good nor evil 
 touches him. He is not for the land of saints or gods, 
 he is a Saved Spirit (purport of slokas 51, 55, and 56 of 
 section II). How difficult then it is for one to be saved ! 
 One must be a god on earth to be with God after death. 
 . Thus absolute resignation is another phase of a man's 
 boundless love for God. That resignation which is born of 
 terror or of extreme sorrow at one time is not an absolute — a 
 life-long resignation, which may pass away at the first advent 
 of material prosperity or when the cause of terror ceases to 
 exist. In order, therefore, to be absolute, the resignation 
 must be full, and must be based on love that is endless. That 
 such love does not or cannot possibly exist on earth, we are 
 not prepared to say. We sometimes see it in man and often 
 in woman, who having once given the wealth of her affection 
 to her lord, resigns herself without a murmur or a groan to all 
 the sufferings which in adverse circumstance such a love 
 entails on her. Conjugal love has been sung as the highest 
 form of love in the Bhagbat by the author of the Gita. It is 
 not merely a union of lips with lips, of eyes with eyes, of 
 ears with ears, of mind with mind, but of spirit with spirit. It 
 is like the geometric union of straight lines which cannot 
 coincide in part without coinciding altogether. If nothing in 
 external nature is abrupt, it is not so in human nature. The 
 early love of childhood for mother ; the boyhood's love for 
 associates, brothers and sisters; the romantic love of youth 
 for a partner, the serene love of manhood for abstract things- 
 truth, justice, wisdom, virtue &c., serve to form an asceding 
 scale as it were from the concrete to the abstract, till it reaches 
 the highest ideal of human aspiration— the love of God, which 
 is the last resting place in age. As the highest development of 
 'Karma is therefore the abstract love of God; the highest deve- 
 
( 102 ) 
 
 lopment of that love is so to speak, the love for the sake of love 
 — the eternity of love ; but Bashana or wish which both pre- 
 cedes and follows a Karma or action of a man, gravitates him 
 to the earth. Wealth, honour, fame, wisdom though very laud- 
 able as objects of aspiration, have their gravitating force to 
 bring a spirit down to the earth. It is only when such things 
 come in the usual way, in the simple discharge of duties, and 
 leave no mark on the soul behind, *that they are not spiritu- 
 ally baneful. - It is then that they instead of doing any harm 
 to the spirit, serve to augment the wealth of its love, like 
 vanquished enemies turned to sycophants. — Well has the Gita 
 sung the true wisdom in the following four immortal lines of 
 slpka 69, section II, famous alike for loftiness of thoughts and 
 tenderness of verse. 
 
 " Ja nisa sarba Bhutanam 
 
 Tashyam Jagarti somjami. 
 
 Jasyam Jagarti Bhutani 
 
 Sa nisa posyato munai." 
 
 Here is the distinction made between the worldly and the 
 spiritual. Herein is marked the bi-coloured lin^ which sepa- 
 rates the material from the spiritual, the Karmd of man being 
 that line. The worldly man in this life sleeps as in midnight 
 over his spiritual interests, while he is wide awake as in mid- 
 day to the interests of his flesh. The Munis do otherwise. 
 Neither " the gaze of a hundred drawing-rooms, nor the ap- 
 plause of the applauded men, nor the love of the loveliest wo- 
 men," estranges him from his duties and his God. He sleeps 
 here over the temptations of his flesh to wake to healthier 
 life and action after death. But as the most valuable jewels 
 are worthless in darkness, the .light of the spiritual lamp j 
 within is necessary to shew the true worth of a man, and as 
 all lights are borrowed from the Sun, the /««« and 52;«a« 
 yoga are to be studied together to know Pard (God) and 
 Aparci (the material universe) in relation to one's own Jnan 
 or knowledge of himself. 
 
t( 
 
 ( 103 ) 
 
 Thus in order to know himself, a man is to know the rela- 
 tion he bears to the inanimate and animate worlds, and then 
 t(j> trace himself, his Karmdi., the inanimate and the animate 
 I one source, God. Our process of reasoning here leads us 
 tij) the solution of a problem in spiritual geometry similar to 
 Proposition XII in the first book of Euclid. The Proposi- 
 tion is as follows : — 
 
 " Draw a straight line perpendicular to a given straight 
 line of an unlimited length from a given point without it. 
 
 d s' 
 
 Let ss' be the given straight line which may be produced 
 to any length both ways, and let p be the point without it, it 
 is required to draw from the point p a straight line perpendi- 
 cular to ss'. 
 
 Now for the solution of the problem, it is necessary to 
 take a point a (apard) on the other side of ss' (the soul) un- 
 limited on both ways, and from the centre /« (Fard, i.e., God> 
 at the distance p. a. (Para' and Apara') describe the circle of 
 Mayd — meeting ss', at / and d, the two points life and 
 death, which make j/ finite fot a time, and then bisect ss, 
 at k (Karma), and lastly join //, pd and pk, i.e., Paro^ 
 with life, Parci with death, and Pard. with KarmA, making pk 
 the common line to the two triangles, which means our duties 
 in irespect to ourselves and all created beings and those in 
 respect to our spiritual life, in equal degrees on both sides ; 
 otherwise, the line kp cannot be a perpendicular line. It 
 follows that the man who does bis duties both as a natural 
 and a spiritual being without attaching any undue importance 
 to either side, and keeping his view straight up to God, is, 
 O.E.F. a Saved Spirit ; and hence neither the ascetic nor the 
 •*' sensual, nor the one who hopes for a reward for his work can 
 
( I04 ) 
 
 go to God— the Lord Himself says in the Gita (sloka i6 
 Sariyasa yoga) " those who place their faith firmly on Me, , 
 those who see Me in their soul, those who bind Me with strong 
 attachment, those who consider Me as their support are sin- 
 less and they only attain Me. 
 
 I now pass on to Bhakti yoga which, I think, will be better 
 appreciated, as experience* has shewn me, than other yogas. 
 
 The subject of yoga is spiritual fove. 
 
 In the year 1832 there took place a great revival of reli- 
 gion in America. The author of the " spiritual wives " thus 
 speaks of it." " The Pauline Church- professing to have been 
 founded on a series of visions, intimations, and internal move- 
 ments of the spirit, taught the doctrine that man may attain 
 to the perfect state, in which he shall be cleansed from sin 
 and made incapable of sin." 
 
 "The doctrine openly avowed was that with the old world 
 which was then passing away, would go all legal bonds and 
 right : that old ties were about to become loosened, and old 
 associations to end : including those of prince and leage, of 
 cleric and layman, of parent and child, of husband and wife : 
 these old rights were to be replaced by new ones. A king- 
 dom of heaven was at hand ; and in that kingdom of heaven 
 every man was to be happy in his choice. And it was not 
 only right, but prudent, to prepare betimes for that higher 
 state of conjugal bliss. The doctrine taught in the privacy of 
 the love feast and the prayer meeting was, that all the 
 arrangements for a life in heaven may be made on earth ; 
 that spiritual friendships may be formed, and spiritual' bonds 
 contracted, valid for eternity, in the chapel and the camp. 
 
 # * * The people began to 'debate whether the old 
 marriage vows would or would not be valid in the new heaven 
 and the new earth. " When a man becomes conscious that his 
 
 • The publication oJ any leaflet on HaRi Toga on the 30th September 1890. 
 
( 105 ) 
 
 soul is saved," says Noyes, "the first thing that he sets about 
 is to find his Paradise and his Eve." 
 
 As a consequence, " a mob of lasses began to dream 
 dreams, to interpret visions, directed against love and marriage". 
 
 In our days, about three years ago, the question of natural 
 mates was raised, if I remember rightly, by a married lady in 
 England, repudiating at the same time the existing system of 
 marriage. The subject was much discussed in Calcutta and 
 Mofussil papers. 
 
 The subject is, however, not a new one. It exists still as 
 an old tradition among the Gothic nations. Swedenburg 
 called it " celestial affinity," and the great poet Goethe gave it 
 the name of Natural Affinity. 
 
 In India in ancient days a great work (Bhagbat) was de- 
 voted chiefly to the solution of the question of spiritual marrir 
 age. We will now discuss the subject both in the light of ancient 
 and modern views, and leave the issue to our readers to judge. 
 
 The Pauline spiritualists of New York advocated 'free 
 love' and 'seraphic kisses' among all men and women. 
 Swedenburg held that " without perfect marriage, there could 
 be no perfect rest for either men or women even in heaven." 
 Goethe on the other hand illustrated his theory of Natural 
 AfEnity by- a story in which he made the hero Werther find 
 his natural affinity in Charlotte, who became shortly after the 
 wife of another. As he had therefore no hope of her on earth, 
 he hoped that according to the "law of organisation" she 
 would be his after death. 
 
 It now remains for me to explain the views of the author 
 of the Gita and the Bhagbat on the subject, which he com- 
 presses in the two lines quoted below : — 
 
 Modgun4 Sriiti Matraink Mai Surba Guhosayai, 
 Managatirabicbinna Jutba Gangambha-sa-ambudhow. , 
 
( loo ) 
 
 i.i., at the instant My attributes are heard, I wbo am in the 
 heart of heart of all, the current of the mind flows to Me un- 
 ceasingly as a river goes to the ocean. 
 
 We have given above the literal translation of the two re-: 
 markable lines. We will now try to analyse them to the best 
 of our ability. It is a fact when we say, that we know all 
 things by. their attributes, we classify them by their attributes,, 
 we distinguish them from one another by their attributes, and 
 we sometimes love some of them for their attributes. Our 
 power of appreciation preceeds our love of a thing or things. 
 This power of appreciation is often an algebraic quantity in 
 us. We cannot often readily say why we appreciate certain 
 objects and why we do not, until we calmly sit down to analyze, 
 our own nature; and even then we sometimes do not get 
 satisfactory answer. We appreciate a rose, a sunset from a 
 particular locality, a brook and at times even a hurricane, and 
 when we calmly question ourselves why we do so, we say that 
 they are probably in harmony with our own nature. Then, 
 again, when one loves a woman, one cannot often get a satisr 
 factory answer when he asks himself why he loves her ; but 
 that he loves her is nevertheless a fact, and that he is so 
 mightily attracted to her that he cannot live without her, is 
 also a fact It might be the grace of her movement, the turn 
 of her nose, the beauty of her eyes or of her nature, and thcij 
 when he questions himself why he loves her. particularly in 
 preference to thousand other women having the same beauty, 
 he cannot give a satisfactory answer. The attraction remain^j 
 a mystery to him, and continues to bind him for a time, an4 
 sometimes for a very great length of time until the cause of 
 attraction ceases to exist, or he is satiated with the object of 
 his attraction, or the cause of attraction is replaced by another 
 superior cause ; and then he moves towards another, and then 
 another and another. The reason is that human nature is 
 susceptible of changes. The changes are worked by reading^ 
 ol^servations and associations — sometimes a trifling event, a 
 
( I07 )• 
 
 word, a gesture, a song, a dream, works unaccountably a total 
 change in a man and in his pursuits. Who has not. amongst 
 us present, heard of the story of the once, rich Lala Babu of 
 pious memory, who one evening on hearing his grand child 
 say to him "Grand-papa the day is past," left home for a her- 
 mit life after setting aside a vast fortune for charitable insti- 
 tutions, and subsisted himself to the day of his death on one 
 iheal a day as a niedicant in the sacred city of Brindaban: 
 Victor Hugo, the great French poet and one of the best 
 observers of human nature, expressed almost an every day 
 trtith, but nevertheless known to so few, when he said that 
 the piartition between Heaven and Hell is so thin, that one 
 can pass from the one to the bther without much delay. In- 
 deed such is often the case. The worst criminal may, by a 
 sudden or unexpected turn of event be often an exemplary 
 rtiati, and in poiiit of devotion to God excel the best indivi- 
 duals of his species, as did the two robbers Jagai and Madhai 
 in the days of Mahapravu Chaitanya. The author of the two 
 Sanskrit lines quoted above, gave expression to the same 
 great truth that we have been endeavouring td explain when 
 he said " at the instant my attributes are heard. I who am 
 in the heart of heart of all— the current of the mind flows 
 unceasingly to Me." However trifling, however accidental, 
 howfcver obscure, may be the cause, when Divine love is once 
 awakened in the heart of a man, he rises as if from a deep 
 pirptfacted sleep to express almost exactly the same thoughts 
 if not the same words which the great poet of England put 
 ifltd the mouth of Adam : 
 
 " Thesfe are thy glorious works, Parent of Good 
 
 Almighty, thine this universal frame 
 
 This wondlous fare. Thyself how wondrous then ; 
 
 Unspeakeable ; He who sittest abov« these heavens, 
 
 To us invisible or dimly seen in these thy lowest works. 
 
 Yet these declare thy goodness beyond thought 
 
 And power Divine — 
 From such" an over-powering feeling of admiration pro- 
 
' ( io8 ) 
 
 ceeds a man's love of the Diety ; and then when once the 
 love is awakened, its stream fails not. Love often fails in 
 respect to an earthly object when the lover's admiration fo» 
 the object fails. Such an apprehension is not possiblfe ' in 
 regard to one's admiration for God ; for inasmuch as an end- 
 less existence, so to speak, is not even possible for the study 
 of His Glorious Creation, the study of Him who is the Source 
 is out of all reckoning. Then domes logically enough another 
 great truth which is more intimately connected with the 
 present subject. It is contained in the remaining portion of 
 the Sloka quoted above, namely, 'as a stream flows to the 
 ocean' (the word Gungd or Ganges in the text is meant for 
 any mighty river). When a mighty river such as the Ganges 
 flo'ws from its source, it is not unfreqUently the case that it 
 has to contend with numberless obstacfes on the way. Some- 
 times it has to struggle upwards, sometimes it has to losfe 
 itself among crevices of stones, sometimes it has to strike an 
 upland valley, &c. The stream of love similarly when ohce 
 awakened, has to contend with numberless obstacles on its 
 way ; but, at the same time, its waters are replenished as it 
 proceeds by countless springs and tributary streams to swell 
 it into a mighty river. The sneer of the conimori pedple, 
 the stern opposition of the sectarians, the subtle logic of the 
 refined atheists, the anomalous justice of the world, and above 
 kll, the frequent adversities of life are the strong obstacles in 
 the course of faith. But, at the same time, the tender love 
 of an affectionate wife, the felial obedience of A dutiful son, 
 the holy affection of a kind parent, the sweet sympathies of 
 true friends and associates, tend to swell the love of the soul for 
 God on its onward progress to Him. Thesa sympathies of. 
 life here so tender, so sweet, so refreshing and holy, and 
 at the same time so ennobling that they give to one the 
 glimpses of higher and higher love of which the affections of 
 this life serve as initiative stages. The work of earthly love is 
 to nourish the soul and to train it for the spiritual lands where 
 
( 109 ) . 
 
 t 
 
 abstract love predominates over concrete, ,as the concrete 
 predominates over abstract here. The pains of separation and 
 disappointments in love which Moore so touchingly describes 
 in the following lines 
 
 Ah ! even thus, from childhood's hour, 
 
 I've seen my fondest hopes decay ; 
 I never loved a tree or flower, 
 But 'tvyas first fo fade away. 
 I never nursed a dear GazeUe, 
 
 To glad me with its soft black eye, 
 
 But when it came to know me well 
 
 And love me, it was sure to die. 
 
 are ingrained in us like the thunders in clouds. They are 
 
 ordained to chasten and purify the soul, and teach man 
 
 at the same time that the objects of the earth however 
 
 adoreable they may appear for a time, are not the true 
 
 objects to blind the soul ; for had they been true, they 
 
 would have been constant, and had they been the best, they 
 
 would have satisfied all the cravings of the mind and heart. 
 
 They are however by no means worthless, they have their 
 
 jnissions — their sacred missions — to shew how sweet and how 
 
 divine is love, and when this mission is fulfilled, they pass 
 
 away in infinite space and time, leaving the godly feeling 
 
 behind to hanker after something better and still better— to 
 
 look up from earthy to etherial, from etherial to celestial and 
 
 from celestial to divine, and thus until the Purnd Furasd (the 
 
 whole Being,) is reached, the soul is not supremely happy. 
 
 We shall presently see this in our discussions about the next 
 
 Yoga. *v' ' 
 
 I. now come to Maksha yoga, or tiiQ yoga of salvation. 
 The word salvation according to Christian theology is "the 
 redemption of man from the bondage of sin and liability to 
 ^eternal death and the conferring on him everlasting happiness" 
 —a view not much in consonance with the view taken by the 
 ancient philosophic Hindus. The. Hindu idea of salvation 
 
. ( no ) 
 
 is again diametrically opposed to the view of the same taken- 
 by Budha, which is synonymous with total extinction of all 
 pains— a mere passive state without any active self-hood iii 
 it. According to the text quoted below 
 
 Muktirhiwanatha riipam Surupairia bavasthiti.. • . 
 Mukti or Salvation means, to exist in the true state. 
 
 To explain the text it will be necessary for me at first to 
 define clearly the five Koshas or' receptacles of the soul 
 spoken of in the Vedanta. They are 
 
 1. Annomoyd koshi or the receptacle of bread. 
 
 2. Pranmoyi koshd or the receptacle of life. 
 
 3. MnnotnoyS koshd or the receptacle of mind. 
 
 f Jnanamoyd koshd or the receptacle of knowledge, 
 ^' iBijnanmoyd hoshd or the receptacle of divine knowledge; 
 ;. Annodimoyd koshd or the receptacle of joy. 
 
 The Koshas are generally the principal stages through 
 which the soul lias to pass before attaining the " True State." 
 but each KosAd has again various substages for the gradual 
 developments of the soul. The first stage* is the^^ existence 
 in heavy body which subsists on bread., Thestage immediate- 
 ly after death is ordinarily an earthy existence on air within 
 about 5 miles from the surface of. the earth. It is an exis- 
 tence merely, the soul hovering over earth and hankeringi,' 
 after higher life —a life it has then no more idea of than what 
 we generally have of the one after death. Then commences 
 the Etherial existence— an existence in which the powers of 
 the mind expand rapidly to enable each individual soul to be 
 conversant with the objects, of nature and the laws by which 
 they are governed till it reaches the Sun from which com-' 
 mences the existence* of wisdom or of higher knowledge.. 
 
 I. Bhur-lofci ... ... , ... The Earth ■ " 
 
 3. Bhuwar-loki . ... The space between the Earttf 
 
 and the Sun. 
 
 • We iabie here the seven lokte or regions of the Hindus *hloh are intimately oon- 
 nepted vlth.th^ fiveiitagesipolcen above. ,• - ■>•. ■ - ;■>*," 
 
The abode of saints and the 
 Devatas. 
 
 ( III ) . 
 
 3. Swar-lokd .,. ... The heaven of India, the space be- 
 
 tween the Sun and the Pole-star. 
 
 4. Mahar-Ioki n 
 
 5. Juna-Iokd >■ 
 
 6. Tapa-loi ■' 
 
 7. Saty-loW ... ... The abode of Brahma. 
 
 It is here (in the sun) that iHteUigences of higher orders 
 "pnrobbed in etherial bodies such as we cannot understand 
 revel in the developement of the lower forces at will — electri- 
 city, light, magnetism, dynamic force," &c. The soul remains 
 in the sun and the space between the sun and the pole star for 
 ages, and then passes to the existence of divine knowledge in 
 the Maha, Jani, and Tapd Lok'as, the abodes of very high 
 spirits, where in deep meditation they acquire the quintessence 
 of all knowledge, the knowledge of the Supreme. The soul up 
 to these regions can re-incarnate for the good of the worlds 
 beneath, such as. Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, &c. The re- 
 incarnations are called Avatars. Avatars take place accord- 
 ding to the necessities of the worlds, and are not confined to 
 the deVdopment of one department of knowledge only. A 
 Newton, a Shakespeare, a Kalidas, a Lebeig and a Laplace 
 are as much Avatars as all great religious Teachers. Their 
 short sojourns to the worlds beneath are not only attended 
 with revelations of the laws of nature, but of the ways of 
 God. They go back to their realms when their missions of 
 love and duty are accomplished. 
 
 Last comes the existence of love in the realms of truth 
 (Satya Lok'a) where knowledge true and love divine dwell in 
 eternal marriage. This existence is the True State or the 
 salvation of the soul. 
 
 It will be seen from the above, that the true state of the 
 soul is by the eternal laws of Heaven to be preceded by the 
 full development of all its faculties, whether for the acqusi- 
 tion of knowledge or power, or capacity for enjoyments. We 
 see in this world that our appreciation of beauty in a concrete 
 object speaks of the inborn capacity in us for love ; and our 
 
o ( "2 ) 
 
 desire for enjoyment of the object of our love, speaks at the 
 same time of the existence of an inate capacity in us for en- 
 joyment of a state of happiness in connection with the object 
 of our love. And although the two capacities are awakened 
 at the first sight of the object of our love, the real love d6es 
 not commence, till our knowledge in respect to the object is 
 not sufificiently in our possession. We love best when we 
 know best. Indeed, our love of an* object pre-supposes our 
 intimacy with it ; and hence the more we know it, the. better 
 we love it. Our love of the Infinite Being must accordingly 
 be preceded by the gradual expansion of our knowledge, and 
 inasmuch as a finite existence or a series of spiritual ex- 
 istences even are not possible to know Him, the attainment 
 of the true state, must according to fixed laws be the work of 
 time. Such a work must have a beginning, and that begin- 
 ning should be from here ; for we have seen before that the 
 excellence of our future life depends on the excellence of our 
 work in this world and of the heart that dictates the work. 
 The Heaven has in His Mercy spread the glad tidings 
 through the best teachers that even the poorestj the mean- 
 est and wickedest spirits shall one day be happy in the 
 splendours of His kingdom and in the sweetness of His 
 infinite love ; and though infinite and apparently unknow- 
 able, He is often infinite and apparently unknowable* 
 to those who love Him best and live in Him. The chord 
 of love if it could be once laid between the foot of the 
 throne of the Almighty and the faithful heart of the worship- 
 per, all distance of time and space would be annihilated.. 
 That which is ordinarily a work of countless ages is neverthe- 
 less the work of short timeas was in the instance of Dhrub'a.^ 
 The true state of the soul of His loving and faithful worship- 
 per begins on earth ere this life is past. To him (as iung in 
 the Vedic Mantra with a slight, modification of tense.) 
 
 " Madhubata ritayatai, Madhu kshranti 
 
 " Sindhuba— Madhirna SantOshadi, 
 
( "3 ) . 
 
 " Madhu nakto mutoshas'a, Madhumath 
 
 " Parthibang raj'a, Madhudow rastanapit'a 
 
 " Madhuman'a banaspati. 
 
 " Madhuman astu Surj'a, Madhirghava 
 
 " Bhavantuna— Madhu— Madhu— Madhu. 
 sweet blow the, winds, the oceans drop nectar. Sweet are the 
 herbs of the earth and sweet the nights and days. Sweet is 
 every particle of earth a'nd sweet is heaven and sweet the 
 Pitriloka'. Sweet is Soma' (a plant). Sweet is the Sun and 
 sweet the milk — Sweet — Sweet Sweet. 
 
 LECTURE-V. 
 
 THE RAJ OR SPIRITUAL YOGA OF THE HINDUS.* 
 
 A lecture, delivered at the First Annual Meeting of the Sri Chaitanya 
 Yoga Sadhan Santaj, on the 28th March, 1892. 
 
 [ In September, 1890, I published a leaflet on Hata Toga, showing 
 some of the exercises of body and breath, which a young Yogi has to 
 perform before aspiring to Raj or the highest spiritual yoga with a view 
 to gain a control over his body ; and at the same time to secure an 
 immunity from diseases. The paper was variously commented on by the 
 Press in England under the impression that the yoga system of the Hindus 
 consisted principally of certain exercises only. On the 13th December 
 last, while speaking on the subject of yoga at the initial meeting of this 
 Somaj, I said that the entire yoga system of the Hindus was the science 
 of the whole man— man physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual, and 
 promised to take an early opportunity to show that such was the fact. 
 In this discourse, I have attempted to fulfil that promise. How far I 
 have succeeded, it is for the public to judge. ] 
 
 In my lecture on " Patanjal Yoga philosophy," delivered 
 at a meeting of the Calcutta Psycho- Religious Society in 
 1889, I endeavoured to explain as fully as I could what was 
 
 • Tho paper has been dedicated, by permission, to tlie Hon'ble Sir Alexander Miller, Kt., Q, 
 C.^ for the very kind interest he has taken in the Somaj. 
 
 15 
 
J 
 
 ' ( 114 ) 
 
 meant by yo^'a spiritual and defined its various stages from 
 Sang/am of Chitta to Kaybalya, i. e., from the elementary 
 concentration of mind to the highest form of beatific abstrac- 
 tion. I also at the same time dwelt, as much as I could, from 
 personal knowledge, on the possibility of the attainment 
 of divers powers attainable by yoga. In the present dis- 
 course, it is my intention to show to you the ways by which 
 they are to be attained. The text of my former discourse 
 was Patanjal Darsan. The text of my present lecture is 
 Siva Sainhita. 
 
 It is necessary for me to state here, without the risk of either 
 presumption or egotism, that although there had been, 
 previous to the publication of my lecture on " Patanjal Yoga 
 Philosophy," many excellent translations of the original 
 work, both in Bengali and English, by eminent men, yet 
 neither the text nor its translations could give any clear idea 
 of the subject. The reason was that so practical and 
 scientific a subject zsyoga could hardly be expected to be 
 made clear by simple explanations of the constructions of 
 sentences of the text, and that the experiences of a Yogi 
 could be conceived and described by an inexperience*! 
 translator or an annotator, specially at a time as the present, 
 when all vestiges oi yoga spiritual have almost vanished, even 
 from the land of it birth. One may as well fancy himself 
 able to read and understand some propositions of geometry 
 without the definitions, postulates and axioms. The texts, 
 as they are, furnish one with the literature of yoga. As for 
 practical knowledge, it depends on the education that one 
 receives from his teacher, or the way in which one, havir^ 
 an intense desire, manages to learn from hints, given here 
 and there, in the absence of a practical teacher. 
 
 The physical man subjugates the beasts of the forests, 
 clothes himself in silk and satin, rides in ships and steamers 
 over water, reads and understands some pages of the great 
 Book of Nature, and exclaims in pride that lie is the Lord 
 
( 115 ). 
 
 of the earth. But he forgets in a moment of weakness that 
 he has as yet no dominion over ^yater, fire and air. He 
 forgets that a tornado or an earthquake can destroy the Eiffel 
 Tower of his glory or his strongest battlements; that a fit 
 of apoplexy can wither his powerful frame, and leave him a 
 shaking ruin. He forgets, while he sits over the banquet 
 of his folly, that there — under the table is spread the hideous 
 ■vulture claw of misfortune waiting for its time to seize upon 
 him, and lead him to a prison or an early grave. 
 
 The spiritual man knows the weakness of his physical 
 namesake, and in true brotherly love teaches him not only 
 to look with an equal eye of indifference on the fortunes 
 and misfortunes of this life, the fame and calumnies of the 
 world, the favour and disfavour of kings and potentates ; 
 but to know how to train himself to withstand the rigours 
 of climate ; and, in advanced stages, to bring even the elenaents 
 under his control. He teaches him also to conquer himself 
 and sin, and thereby enable him to conquer diseases and 
 other ills ot life. And while he does all these for his physi- 
 cal counterpart, he exerts to conquer for himself illusions. 
 Then, when this noble work is done, he passes on from 
 sphere to Siphere — from sun to sun, his har.d grasping the torch 
 of Truth, his heart bearing the cup of love. And as he progress- 
 es, the torch glows brighter and brighter, the cup overflows 
 more rapidly till he reaches the fountain, and then his 
 language fails, his eyes overflow as he lisps out " Father, 
 Father how could I have lived so long— without Thee ?" 
 "Come my son," says the Heavenly Father "come unto Me 
 and be one with Me." In human language, this is called 
 Salvation. In the language of yoga it is called Reconc;- 
 liation. 
 
 Forget the above, O my soul ! Forget the scene which no 
 language can describe. Forget and come back to earth — tp 
 duty come, and open a scene— to be borrowed from Alef 
 Lyla, the Thousand and One Nights— the scene of the En- 
 
. ( 116 ) 
 
 chanted Castle. It is a castle with a hundred doors ; each 
 door opening into a treasury, and containing more riches than 
 the riches of the kingdoms of earth. Such is, indeed, the 
 / enchanted castle of yoga wijb a hundred doors, each opening 
 into a treasury. Whatever the intellectual, moral and spiri- 
 tual man hopes, whatever he loves wishes or wills, are to be 
 found in thus enchanted castle. 
 
 I have said before that the enchanted castle of yoga has 
 a hundred doors. Each door is furnished with a lock and 
 key of its own ; but there is nevertheless a master-key which 
 opens all the doors. The spiritists may have got a key or 
 two, the jugglers two or three the mesmerists one or two, 
 but the master-key— the key which opens all the doors is 
 still in India. 
 
 It is not strange that a castle so ancient and rich should 
 hav&a legend. Yes, it has one, and an interesting one too. 
 It is said that in mercy to the human race, the Lord once 
 took the human form — the form of Yogeswara Mahadeva 
 to teach spiritual yoga to mankind. He constructed this 
 enchanted castle, and placed it in India — that unique land, 
 the land of lands on earth, the epitome of the whole world. 
 With a view to divide the two worlds, the material and the 
 spiritual, the Lord of Yoga willed that Rishi Kasyapa would 
 have two sons by his two wives, Aditi and Diti, the progeni- 
 tors of the Aryan race. From the son of Aditi sprang the 
 Indians. The other Aryan races sprang from the son of Diti. 
 The Indians, as willed by the Lord, looked principally to 
 their spiritual requirements, disregarding all material pros- 
 perity, and in course of time became subjects to the sons of 
 Diti. While all that makes life agreeable — all that feeds the 
 the ambition and pride of man, came into the grasp of the 
 descendants of the son of Diti, the descendants of the son of 
 Aditi chiefly held the enchanted castle. History shows, so far 
 as it could show of the ancient days, that Rishi Jajnabulkya 
 first took possession of the castle, and showed all its mys- 
 
( 117 ) • 
 
 teries, wealth and glory to his followers. After his death, it 
 came successively into the possession of Janaka, Bashishta, 
 ^j^ajgila, I^atanjali, &'c. Our researches show that the last ruler 
 of the castle was Sri Chaitanya, who died about 400 years 
 ago. In the meantime, the descendants of the son of Diti, 
 moved by constant reports of its fabulous wealth, sent from 
 time to time, men whom they thought competent to find its 
 whereabouts. One man after another came, each read its 
 accounts, took notes, made inquiries, and submitted reports. 
 Some believed, some disbelieved its existence. The majority 
 shared the disbelief, drank their customary ale, lighted their 
 pipes to give rest to their laboured brains, and sang in derision 
 the well-known German fox-song : — 
 
 " What comes there from the hill ? 
 What comes there from the hill ? 
 What comes there from the leathery hill ? 
 Sa I Sa ! 
 Leathery hill ! 
 
 What comes there from the hill ? 
 
 It is a postillion ! 
 
 It is a postillion I 
 
 It is a leathery postillion ! 
 
 What brings the postillion ? 
 
 He bringeth us a fox ! 
 
 He bringeth us a fox ! 
 
 He bringeth us a leathery fox ! 
 
 Sa! Sa! 
 Leathery fox ! 
 He bringeth us a fox ! 
 As much as to say that the castle is a canard j Yet the 
 popular belief is that the enchanted castle exists. Whenever 
 anything strange or mysterious, happens in the West, fo^ 
 which no sufficient explanation is forthcoming, it is referred 
 the East But the East of the present day is ten times 
 worse in matters of spiritual inquiry than the Modern West. 
 
• ( Ii8 ) 
 
 There is a spirit of inquiry, a sufficient amount of candour, 
 a real love of knowledge in the West, which are rarely to be 
 found in the East. If the East at -present shows any desire 
 for knowledge, it is in eight cases out of ten, influenced by, 
 monetary consideration. To speak generally, the East is 
 now a copy of the West^a copy spoiled and disfigured- by 
 touches of selfishness and vanity. Moreover, go where you 
 will, one monotonous, painful sigrit shall meet your eye. 
 The Shastta is read and explained everywhere with the help 
 of Panini (grammar) only. The spirit of independent 
 inquiry, which once ennobled India, is gone. Yet there had 
 been once, in the days of Sri Chaitanya, an intellectual 
 awakening in the Eastern Districts of India. It was like 
 short summer in the Himalayas, bursting forth in splendour 
 and plenty after a loiig winter of frost and snow ; and then 
 the East showed for a tinie the wealth of her intellect. That 
 wealth, of which I may have occasion to speak hereafter, is 
 now confined to the Goswamis, and is a sealed treasure alike 
 to the East and West. 
 
 But the castle — the enchanted castle, where is it to be 
 found ? An echo seems to say 'in man.' Is it in the leathery 
 man, asks the West ? No, says the East. It is the Hallelujah 
 of the ancient Rishis, singing the truths through their works, f 
 Ages before Professor J. R. Buchanan, M. D. of Boston, 
 founded what he calls the science of sarcognomy, which has 
 justly gained for him the reputation of a sage, and ages 
 before Carus Sterne of, Germany spoke of man as a mic*di- 
 ^^smjjhe Siva Samhita had spoken distinctly as human 
 language could speak, in the first five verses of Section II, 
 (Patala ii,) that man was the epitome of the universe ; and 
 irt the fifth Patala (Section) had described six drcles in the 
 human body alluded to in my paper on " The Spirit Worship 
 of Ancient India"-- a diagram of diverse passions and their 
 currents, as the Meteorological chart of the world shows the* 
 north and south-east trade winds, the polar calms and calms 
 
( "9 ) . 
 
 of Cancer, and Capricorn, the region of the equitorial 
 doldrums. These regions of passions are earthy, liquid, 
 fiery, airy and etherial. High above the belt of superficial 
 ether, and so to speak from the gla£eatj,of jiin^, as defined by 
 the Ancients, rises the grand edifices of the enchanted castle, 
 where human heart and human will in the light of superior 
 knowledge, and under the guidance of purer love, can make 
 a hell a heaven, an imposssibility possible. Let us here pause 
 awhile to put before our readers the plan and groundwork 
 of the castle. First in order, comes the belt of earth with its 
 attributes of smell, taste, form, touch and sound. Then 
 comes the belt of water with its artibutes of taste, form, 
 touch and sound. Next to it is the belt of fire, [Tej\ with 
 its attributes of form, touch, and sound. Above it, is the 
 belt of air with its attributes of touch and sound, and, lastly, 
 the belt of superficial ether {Akask) with one attribute, sound 
 only. As a traveller rises fr om ^ne belt to the other, he 
 loses one by one all the gravitating influences of the earth, 
 till nothing but sound remains. Then, if he has strength 
 and courage to rise, he comes to the region of mind in which 
 are left all the impressions of the regions he has left below. 
 Here commences the admirable colossal structure of the 
 enchanted castle of yoga. Here the sun of wisdom never 
 sets, nor the moon of love waxes and wanes. Hope blossoms 
 here under the immediate supervision of steady will. All 
 . doubts ^d mysteries in regard to the castle are now over. 
 Its beauty, wealth and glory shine resplendant before the 
 eyes of the enchanted traveller. He sees his reflection in 
 one infinite mirror of eternal ether" stretching out purer 
 and purer in endless gradations. He sees himself a new being 
 and breathes a new breath of existence. He sees the best 
 wisdom of the earth, the most subtle diplomacy, the dazzling 
 splendours of courts, the brightest victory in the field or cabi- 
 net the greatest discoveries with a smile. He looks below to 
 see the impression of all he thought, said and did, with a sigh. 
 
c ( I20 ) 
 
 But where are the hundred treasuries ? Yes, they are 
 here. A step above and these treasuries even are too trifling 
 to awaken any interest or curiosity. But* the traveller has 
 not risen so far, and is new to the place. He wants to see 
 where the wealth of yoga, called the power to see distant 
 scenes and persons is placed. Where is again placed the 
 power, which reads the thoughts of other men and the power 
 to transform things at will, &c. ? We will try to answer these 
 questions or rather open some of the treasuries as we pro- 
 ceed. 
 
 The first and the most important thing for consideration 
 in the field of research is the Molecular theory of the Ancient 
 Rishi- Yogis, which advocates the Molecular jpgrfe c|jon of 
 an individual man. There is not a subject grandeur for con- 
 templation than this theory of the ancient Hindus. For the 
 want of a proper advocate, for the want of a true understamfl*!! 
 ing of the subject, it has all along been misunderstood and 
 misinterpreted. It was through misrepresentation that the 
 West was led to believe that the Rishis did actually consider 
 the earth, water, fire, air and akash as elements. Read the 
 Vedanta Darsan, the Darsan of Kapila and Patanjali with 
 intelligence, and say whether you find any sober allusions to 
 earth, water &c., as elementary bodies ? No, you cannot find 
 them, for this simple reason, then the entire harmony olyoga 
 philosophy from beginning to end will be hopelessly and 
 utterly destroyed. They are callecl elements in ,|he same 
 way as some days of the week are called Sunday, Monday, 
 &c. The true, and I may be permitted to say, the hidden 
 meaning of yoga is the Molecular perfection of an individuait 
 man. If the term yoga be once clearly understood, then its. 
 theories would shine as eternal truths 
 
 " Looking radiantly bright over the tears of the world." , 
 The MolgcjuiaF- perfection of man, as advocated by Yoga, 
 cannot be attained all at once. Indeed, the term perfection 
 presupposes both time and exertion. 
 
( 121 ) . 
 
 - Ask a physician liow long it would take to rebuild a 
 System reduced and ravaged by a long protracted nmlady, 
 and he would probably tell you, while prescribing some medi- 
 tii)e, that a change of scene, habits and diet for six months 
 or a year would be necessary. The Yoga Shastra enjoins 
 the same thing. It advocates too, change of scene, of habits, 
 of company, of the system and subjects of study and conver- 
 sation, while it prescribes sincerity, abnegation and love of 
 ^unkind for a number of years as medicines, to cure one of 
 irthliness with a view to bring back the sarup or the triie 
 statVbf the soul ; and until this is done, no tangible improve- 
 ment or expansion of its powers is possible. 
 
 Constituted as man is of matters both ponderable and im- 
 ponderable (a classification though little observed at present, 
 yet we adopt it for the better elucidation of the subject), it is to 
 the imponderable that he owes all his finer forces. Accord- 
 ing to the ancients he owes his bones, flesh, muscles, &c., to 
 the hypothetical earth, his form and colour to the hypotheti- 
 cal fire, his sense of touch and taste to the hypothetical air 
 and water ; but he loves and hates, he wills and resolves by 
 the dynamic force of electricity, light, heat and magnetism 
 assisted by the intelligent principle in him called the soul. 
 Then again, as there are fixed locations of energies of matters 
 in the various parts of the body, such as the energy of earth 
 in the arms, of fire in the eyes, of water in the tongue, of air 
 i n the fingers, there are fixed locations of moral forces in the 
 s^^jggions^f the body called the six circles. , We give below 
 a comparative pictorial view of the locations of moral forces 
 as discovered by the ancients, or to speak more definitely as 
 men.tioned in the Mahanirvan Tantra, and as discovered by 
 Professor Buchanon of Boston and Dr. Gall, the father of the 
 
 Science of Phrenology. 
 
 « — ■ # « >* * 
 
 The above comparative pictorial view of the mo ral forces 
 in man is of rare interest and value to every student of psy- 
 i6 ' 
 
. ( 122 ) 
 
 chology, and shows without dispute that in studying man the 
 same results may be arrived anywhere, whether in India, in 
 America or any other country. Thus we acclbnt for the simi^ 
 larity of ideas in the writings of Goethe, Shakespeare and 
 Kalidas, and thus we venture to establish harmony between 
 Oriental and, Occidental psychology. In analysing the two 
 illustrations, ancient and modern, one cannot help being 
 struck with their general resemblance to one another, though 
 in examining the details we observe certain discrepancies^ 
 Thus in the umbellical region where somnolence is the characr 
 teristic feature, we observe in the modern illustration " Sensi- 
 bility and disease." The Hindus here have, it appears, 
 descended to details, and have placed 'fear', ' sorrow', 'shame', 
 ' thirst', 'malice' and ' duplicity!. The location of thirst, how- 
 ever, according to Dr. Gall, is immediately in front of " des- 
 tructiveness" on each side of the head. Rising higher to the 
 ' breast circle' or the sternal^^^regjgiJJ, we see a group of very 
 bright starsjpf the first magnitude, such as ' hope', ' kind- 
 ness', ' benevolence', ' philanthropy', ' love', ' energy', ' virtue' 
 &c., encercling ' intellect' in the mordern illustration. In the 
 ancient we almost see the same with this difference that in 
 place of ' Harmony' on both sides of the ' Intellect' in the 
 modern illustration, we find ' Argumentativeness' and 'Reason-*- 
 ing' ; and, at the same time, we notice a serious omission in 
 the modern illustration, we mean the omission of a very 
 brigi^ star^^ by whose beneficent influenee we almost daily, 
 cleanse ourselves of moral evils, we mean ' repentance', and 
 of some stars of malignaint nature, such as ' vanity', ' hypocricy' 
 and ' vacillation'. We notice also that ' virtue' and ' religion', 
 the two essential helps in life have been placed by the and- 
 ents near the soXtpaJaip, where is also placed the living hap- 
 piness of ' Self-abnegation'. In the throat or ' kantka' are 
 placed the seven notes by the ancienrs which are termed 
 either ' poison' or ' nectre' according as they are uSed in the 
 service of God and humanity or in their dis-service. Takij^, 
 
C '23 ) • 
 
 leave here of Professor Buchanon and rising higher up to the 
 ^UE£±£ili2!Qi- '^''^2^' i^^ •JPP'^'" part of the frontal bone and the 
 interparietal space, we l^e 'sound', ' colour'. ' form', • mirth', 
 ' agreeableness', ' ideality', ' meditation', ' spirituality', ' venera- 
 tion', ' firmness', ' kindness', ' affection' &c., in fact such of the 
 moral forces are requisite for a Yogi. No doubt, the symboli- 
 cal head of" the phrenologists contain more divisions than 
 those enumerated by the ancients, but then it must be admit- 
 ted that they alluded to those only which were necessary foi* 
 yoga spiritual. 
 
 These Iqcatigns^of energies, whether intellectual, moral or 
 
 psychic in the different parts of a man's body, show at a glance 
 
 the wonderful adaptation of his self to various influences, 
 
 external and internal : and act as lateral and vertical forces in 
 
 keeping him well balanced in the world of beings and 
 
 in the struggles of his existence as well as in the stuggles 
 
 of ^is pa^igns. To the Yogis they are the secret treasuries 
 
 of the enchanted castle. To show how they are, it will be 
 
 necessary for me here to speak a word about the five belts 
 
 mentioned before. They are, so to speak, the resolving stages 
 
 of the gross man from soild to liquid, from liquid to fiery, 
 
 from fiery to gaseous, and from gaseous to etherial and 
 
 tipwards. The,g^f§ would appear imaginary to a modern 
 
 thinker, and so they are, but they are nevertheless of great 
 
 practical value to a Yogi in effecting marvellous changes' in 
 
 his habits, mode of thinking &c Moreover, the stages appear 
 
 to me to do the same as Nature does in almost all men either 
 
 daily or at intervals at the sight of a coffin, or of a scene of 
 
 harrowing distress or of moral degradation. The difference 
 
 between the two is, that while the Yogi goes through these 
 
 resolving stages voluntarily and at will, the worldly goes 
 
 tfirougii them only when prompted by nature. The thought 
 
 of the failings of humanity— the failings of his own self— the 
 
 unstability of fortune — the uncertainty of life and yet the hard 
 
 ^struggles for pomp and power, is always before a Yogi to melt 
 
■ ( 124 ) 
 
 his heart. He prays for energy (fire) to buoy him up and then 
 his heart becomes light and easy as air and his aspirations turn 
 Heavenward. By thus directing His mind frequently to 
 what is true and eternal, he acquires the power of abstraction 
 to reach the stage of luind, where commences the admirable 
 structure cfyoga. 
 
 'Onward' says Nature— 'Onward' — says the Yogi. He 
 has now come to a new region altogether, the: regiora of 
 Mind where the gravity of the earth and the dimesnsioiis, 
 of earthly things no longer exist or exist only in. impressioHS 
 previously acquired. A new ruler rules this region^ whose 
 laws aue his own. A Yogi arrived at this stage can see 
 a dist?int scene without the necessity of his going therft. 
 He can also read the thoughts of other men ; andl though 
 clt^ged, be soars from bounds: to boundlessness. With 
 nature he is in perfeQt intimacy- He planis and distributes, 
 arranges and transforms things at will. He is a person whonib 
 you cannot call 'a stranger at honoe ;' fou he studies himseU 
 thoroughly and well. If you ask how could he possibly see 
 a distant place, he will perhaps smile and say, "you sit, you 
 rise, you walk and jump, how do you do all these ?" "You 
 will probably say", says he, that you resist the force ol gravity 
 in doing the actions. "Well", says he "the Yogis do exactly 
 the same thing." "You ought to reason and find out, seeing 
 the rudiments of powers already in you and hoping legiti- 
 mately for their expansion and development what prevet^, 
 you from doing so?" The answer is, your own self-lo\^ 
 gravitates your soul to the body. Resist the gravij^ y; -otwthis 
 love, and you are as free to send your soul to a distant scene 
 as you are to walk or rua We YogJisi, he would add^ have 
 been practising by Thought, Will and Action to ignore this 
 fatal love. You, on the contrary, love your body which, you 
 blindly think to be yourself. We consider it as a temporary 
 dwelling for the soul on earth to. fulfil a certain, destingrk 
 Such a thought ruling in us by day and night graduallf 
 
( 125 ) • 
 
 • 
 
 frees the infinite from the finite, and enables the soul to 
 visit distant scenes. To attain the power a person should 
 practise yoga for some time in order to know practically the 
 changes that his yoga may bring about. There will be 
 ni2i§£Wl<tf^SijaagSS,.ia him in the course of about six months, 
 which will work corresponding changes in his ha^ ts, There 
 will be also a certain degree of expansion ""^^e ESSHf 
 o f his 3 iftd. He will occasionally see his second self in 
 front of him at first to startle or terrify him ; but he will 
 soon know that the phantom is the index of his great future 
 success. 
 
 The Bibkuti or the power which read^ the thought of 
 other men is still more difficult of attainments "The earthly 
 tKJdy", says Revd. Sterne, "is more or less, a mask, by 
 means of which we conceal firom eath other those thoughts, 
 *yhi<;h, if cons.tantly exposed, would unfit us for living in com- 
 munity. But wften we die, this mask falls away, and the 
 truth shows aakedly." Well now, this mask or screen which 
 hides this thought, should b* gradually removed. The quesr^ 
 tion now is, how is it to be done ? It is a fact known to 
 almost all, that the language of the soul is understood by the 
 soul. The husband understands the thoughts of his wife 
 as the wife does of her husband. The mother understands 
 the language of her infant The poor reads the face of the 
 benevolent as the benevolent does, of the poor. Bat the 
 godly alone under&tainds the thoughts of all. For him who 
 always sees theTove of God in himself, and who sees himself 
 in ajl created beings, there is no difficulty for him to under- 
 stand another not even a lower animal. Nearest to this 
 love are lights peace, and harmony. Away from: it are, 
 daiEkness, unrest and discoid. The person who actually sees 
 hiiHself in others^ and feels for others, as he feels for himself, 
 «9 alone able to read the thoughts, of others. Judging from 
 tbis standpoint, which is the troe and pbilosophical" stand- 
 point, the professed thongbt-readers are more or less irtipos- 
 
• ( 126 ) 
 • 
 ters, unless a very few of them are born with cipacity to 
 read other's thoughts, and ii^ such cases they are above 
 ordinary rules. I will give you an historical account from 
 the saintly life of Cure d' Ars as narrated by Dr. George 
 Wyld M. D. 
 
 "He was born at Dardilly, a village near Lyons, 1876, and 
 died 1859, aged 73 years. 
 
 " He was simple, pure, loving and pious soul, and he set 
 himself literally to live the life of Christ, like a child. 
 
 " Poverty, continual self-denials, the absence of all self- 
 indulgence, total self-abnigation, humility, untiring forgive- 
 ness and charity, with continual prayer was his rule of life. 
 
 " He became and was for twenty years a centre, attract- 
 ing pilgrims from all quarters ; and it is asserted that from 
 fifty to eighty thousand were attracted to his remote village 
 annually, that they might see him, or confess their sins or 
 be heated of their diseases of body and mind. 
 
 "He read the secrets of those who came for confession 
 and often told all before one wdfd was confessed ; and at 
 other times pointed out the day and hoiir such sins were 
 committed. 
 
 "At other times he could pick out of the waiting crowd 
 those who stood most in need of his assistance, and many 
 men of the world and sceptics were converted by a glance 
 of the eye, a look or a word." 
 
 If the instance quoted above fail to convince any individual, 
 let him sit in a circle with a few of his own friends for about 
 an hour for a few successive nights, pledging to think during 
 the time of nothing else than Divine love. After sitting^in_^ 
 such a circle for three or four nights, there will come a time, 
 a very precious and interesting time, when all the sitters 
 will know each other more than they ever did in all their 
 lives, and will be able to detect, if there arise a discordaifli| 
 thought in another, as if the rest have received a sudden 
 shock to make them stare at the offender. 
 
( 127 ) . 
 
 I must now hurry on to open some other treasuries of 
 yoga. 
 
 On the subjects referred to above, I have dwelt chiefly 
 on the training;_of the Heart;, I now wish to speak a word 
 also aboutthe traimng^^^t^^^^ The treasuries of the 
 
 will are as varied and splendid as those of the heart. -So 
 far as we know, there is ordinarily nothing which a man 
 cannot do, when he has a* strong and steady will ; but the 
 Yogis say they can do more, for instance, change or transform 
 a thing. We do transform things by the aid of our 
 knowledge, such as we turn rags into paper: but it is not the 
 chemical transformation that we are alluding to. It is the 
 matenad transfbirmation foi" a while, for example milk into 
 tea. You asKisTKis possible ? The Yogis say, know the 
 process, and you will do it A savage 'does not know how 
 to transform rags into paper, and he will not believe even 
 if'ihe sees the transformation. But how does a civilised man 
 do it ? You will say that he knows the process. The Yogi 
 says, similarly, if you knovv^he process, you will change or 
 rather make the milk appear as tea, which will smell and 
 taste as tea. The question, however, still remains how would 
 a Yogi do it, granting that he has the power to do it. The 
 Yogi says, increase yoUr will p ower at first, steadily, gradu- 
 ally every day, and then locate your will to the various _seats 
 : o^. e ner g ies according to requirements. If any one thinks 
 that singly he has not the power to do it, let him combine 
 with others and try. If you think of producing light in a 
 dark room, you will not succeed in a day or two, but if you 
 persevere you will succeed. Thus, instead of ascribing th^ 
 pbenomena of 'light' 'strokes' 'soft ringings' to spirit mani- 
 festations and being on the wrong track, you should direct 
 your energies to experiments which are ca lculated to b e of 
 very valuable practical benefit to you by developing your 
 latent opvyer. You have a whole universe in yourself to 
 study. There is conservation ol light in your eyes— of . heat, 
 
. ( lis ) 
 
 electricity and dynamic force in your entire system. There 
 is the power to focus distant sounds by your ears and to 
 focus scents by your nose, and then the power to produce 
 form to alter weight, to change or produce colour is located 
 within your brows. You have also a large number of moral 
 and. intellectual powers to develope, drill and train for active 
 service. You have the faculty of marvellousness to open for 
 you the secret doors of hidden treasures of occult pheno- 
 mena, the faculties of ideality, sublimity and spirituality to 
 enable you to soar from the bounds of earth to immensities 
 of heavens. You take the Yogis for a set of idlers who do 
 nothing of any value whatever to benefit either themselves 
 or humanity. Such a notion is wrong. They have a whole 
 universe in themselves to study, an universe to meditate 
 upon. In early life they go through a regular training of 
 bodily exercises and exereises of breath, so that when 
 somewhat advanced in age, they gain suiiBcient control ovftr 
 their body and mind. Then commences their intellectual 
 and moral training in which they»are required to study Yoga 
 and religious books and also to practise self-abnegation, and 
 to develope and control the forces alluded to before under 
 the guidance of practical gurus or teachers. When this is 
 done, the Yogis are left to contemplate, to get as much truth 
 as they independently can. They serve humanity more than 
 the statesnlen, &c., do. The saints in all lands hold the 
 balance against the sin of society- Their unselfish p.rayer 
 uttered in child-like faith and simplicity for the forgiveness 
 of sins of brother men, reach the Throne of Mercy. There 
 is not in India a more ancient and historic city than Benares. 
 There is not a city in India, which is so full of filth and vices 
 as Benares.^ It is the den of idlers, of thieves and budtnasM* 
 of all descriptions. It is the Gretna-green of the Hindu 
 Society. It is the refuge of the^old, the infirm and the out- 
 castes. Its daily vice is enormous. Its filth and want of 
 sanitation is indescribable. Judging by' the rules of sanitation, 1 
 
(129 ) • 
 
 it should have befen blotted out of the map of India. Such 
 a city as Benares cannot possibly exist. Yet it exists and 
 exists in the splendour of its ancient glory. The physical 
 atmosphere of the city is purified daily by incense and Homa 
 performed by numerous Sadhus, and its moral atmosphere 
 is purified by the prayers of thousands of devotees from 
 dawn to night. It is to this day the same historic city. It 
 is to the day the same cheapest city in India to live in. It is 
 truly called the City of JUnnopurna or the goddes of Plenty. 
 The Yoga Sashtta enjoins a student to fix his gaze on 
 the spot between the two brows, and in higher stages to 
 turn the eyeballs upwards, so that they remain half disclosed 
 during meditation, Two objects are gained by the first 
 process, namely, the steady increase' of will power and the 
 location of mind to the place, which is considered to be the 
 focus of all moral forces, called the seat of individuality. 
 Now the Yogis know that by such a location of will, they 
 gradually attain the power to create, modify, and transform 
 things. Mr. Crookes, the famous physicist, did alter weights 
 of things, and ascribed the alteration to the influence of 
 spirits. The Yogis say that they can do the same without 
 the aid of any other spirit, save that of their own. As a 
 spiritist myself, I do not disbelieve what Mr. Crookes asserts. 
 Indeed, the partition between one's own advanced soul and 
 the soul of a dead man is very slight. Some time ago, I 
 heard from a very creditable source that a Yogi produced the 
 Mirage of a small lake with a goddess standing on a lotus. 
 In this case he materialized the image he had in his mind. 
 Materialization is too common a thing which even a few 
 uninitiated person having a strong will can do together. We 
 ourselves produced a soft of semi-luminous ball ifi a perfect- 
 ly dark room ; and on my part I felt it. It was vapoury and 
 clammy as a dead man's body, which pi-oduced in me for a 
 ? time a very sickening sensation. We did so far and could 
 do no more. 
 
 17 • 
 
■ ( J30 ) 
 
 It is said, that the Yogis in their very lonely retreats can 
 hear sweet sounds, <Jr can smell sweet perfumes if they wish 
 very much for either or both. They do it by the process of 
 focussing. In our every day natural state we open our- 
 selves simultaneously to all sorts of perceptions. The eyes 
 see sights, the ears here sounds. The air touches the body, 
 while the mind can think lightly at the same time. If 
 however, we can withdraw the mind from all external percep- 
 tions and concentrate it on one particular organ, the ears for 
 instance, then the sounds occurrfug miles ofTcan be focussed by 
 the ear, as the widespread sail of a ship when rendered concave 
 by a gentle breeze conducts sound from a very great distance. 
 
 Of the most noted and most interesting of the powers 
 attainable by the exercise of Will is the power to make one's 
 own 'shadow' speak. The Yoga Shastra first enunciated the 
 process, which in course of time was perfected by the Tantriks 
 by experiments. The Psychical Society in England is at 
 present seriously investigating this particular phenomenon^ 
 some noted instances of which I see are published by Mr. 
 Stead in the Xmas issue of his " Review of Reviews." The 
 phenomenon is called 'shadow' in India. It is called 'the 
 'double' or 'thought — ^man' in the West Call it by any name 
 you please, its objectivity remains undisputed. The process 
 by which the •thought man* is to be separated, seen and 
 beard is as follows : — 
 
 Stand with your back towards the early sun, facing . your 
 own shadow and fix your gaze steadily on it, praying inwardly 
 af the time till the tears arise in your eyes, and then desist . 
 from the trial for the day. Do it again the next day at 
 about the same time and so on day after day regulariy, till 
 you see the. skadoiv grow very bright and hear it speak. The 
 longest time fixed for success is six months. The experi-. 
 mcnts may be made in a lonely but at the same time a checi'- 
 ful locality. They can be made at night in a solitary room 
 ^\ ith a lamp kept burning behind. 
 
( 131 ) . 
 
 It will be seen from the directions given that tlie injunc- 
 tion to look at one's own shadow steadily, say for a minute 
 or two on the first day, and gradually increasing the power 
 up to 30 minutes, does three-fold good to a Yogi. In the 
 first place, it strengths the eye-sight by looking at the 
 shadow. In the second place, it increases the wiU-po\(?er 
 steadily and imperceptively, and in the third place, it 
 increases the psychic powers by exposure to early sun which 
 does not hurt a man. It at the same time stimulates a man 
 with hope to carry on the exeriments without a break. Nor 
 is the hope in any way delusive ; for as a student sees day by 
 day the successive stages of progress indicated in the Yoga 
 Shastra, his heart is Impelled to see that his efforts arc 
 crowned with success. 
 
 The services which the 'thought man' does arc indeed 
 great. In prosperity or misfortune, in dangers or emer- 
 gencies, in disease or in health, he is the best counsellor and 
 friend. Socrates had the services of his 'thought man' 
 almost all the days of bis life. In India, among others, 
 Maharshi Vyasa by his pure life, by meditation and prayer, 
 so far perfected it, that he could visit a scene at will, and 
 could make it assume any form he liked. 
 
 I now pass on to a still higher plane of joga in which 
 the exhibition of powers as mentioned before are to a Yogi 
 as trifling, as the dear objects of a child are to a thoughtful 
 man. To attain the higher stage, the traveller is required to 
 rise above the region of mind to the region of Budhi. The 
 term Budhi is a very complex term with the schoolmen. 
 Without, however, presuming to launch myself forth into a 
 philosophical discussion about the term I may best try to 
 explain it by an illustration. 
 
 Suppose an educated man of an imaginative turn of 
 mind, after having made the best possible afrangeraents for 
 his family, starts from home without any anxiety to study 
 Nature ; and suppose the person with a view to enjoy the 
 
. ( 132 ) 
 
 sight of a glorious sun set, mounts to the top of such a 
 romantic hill as Chandra Sikhar in Chittagong from which 
 he commands the sight of the bay spreading itself in endless 
 expanse before him. He stands there for a time wrapt in 
 contemplation of the glorious, great and infinite. The vanities 
 of riches — the pomp of power — the pride of knowledge — the 
 superiority of caste or blood^-the gewgaw world — all pass 
 away from his mind unconscious to himself. His poor 
 individuality Is shrivelled into nothingness. It is merged for 
 a while into immensities and eternities. He is dimly conscious- f 
 of himself that he exists— and that there exists before him a 
 grand and glorious creation with its Cause, unutterably 
 great For a. brief moment he is in touch, as it were, with 
 Divinity. This stage of double consciousness is the stage of 
 Sudhi. It is here where all illusions pass away, where all 
 that tempt the soul for power, glory, wealth. &c, cease to 
 trouble him. If any one wishes to understand the nature of 
 his own soul and its true aspirations, he can do so at the stage> 
 ofBudhi. 
 
 I have said above that at the stage of Budht all illusions 
 cease to .exist I have said also that the powers of the soul' 
 — the secret treasuries — which appeared . so splendid and 
 marvellous, are its inherent virtues, and are no piore objects > 
 of wonder than our capacity to lift our arm or stretch our 
 leg or in spoken words to explain our thoughts to others. I 
 have yet, however, to explain the term 'illusion' or 'May4' as 
 understood by the Hindus. Let me do this by a simile. 
 
 The science of Algebra is, defined to be the science "in 
 which we reason about numbers, with the aid of letters to 
 denote the numbers,, and qf certain signs to denote the 
 operations performed on the numbers and the relation of the 
 numbers to. each other." In the higher planes o^ yoga we 
 reason about all earthly things and all our desires and aspira- 
 tions with the. aid of certain, truths to denote them, and of 
 certajn primary signs which we call positive and negative. 
 
( 133 ) • 
 
 performed on all things, aspirattons and desires &c., and to de- 
 note the operations and establish their relations to each other. 
 The truths are three ; and are called the siAu/, the sukshma 
 and the karan, i. e., the gross, the subtle, and the cause. All 
 that we see and hear, all that we feel and perceive, all that 
 wc hope and aspire to, are denoted by the three great truths. 
 Then there are the signs to denote the operations performed, 
 which will be explained'below : — 
 
 In my paper on "Some Thoughts on the Gita" I described 
 the accidental relations of life to show that which we call 
 pleasure, and that which we call pain, that which wc call 
 wealth, and that which we call poverty, that which we call 
 health, and that which we call disease, that which wc call 
 beauty, and that which we call ugliness, &c., are temporary . 
 relations. I also endeavoured to show the uses of sym- 
 pathies in this life in nourishing the soul, and training it 
 for the spiritual land, where abstract love predominates 
 over concrete, as the concrete predominates over abstract 
 in this world. I showed also that the objects of earth, how- 
 ever adoreable they riiay appear for a timfe, are not the 
 true objects to bind the soul ; for had they been 
 true, they would have been constant, and had they been 
 the best they would have satisfied all the cravings of 
 the mind and heart. They are by no means worthless. 
 They have their missions, their sacred missions to show how 
 sweet and how divine is love, and when this mission is fulfilled, 
 they pass away into infinite space and time, leaving the godly 
 feeling behind to hanker after something better and still 
 better to look up from earthy to etherial, from etherial to 
 celestial, and from celestial to divine,, and thus untiF the 
 Purna Purusa (Whole Being) is reached, the soul -is not 
 supremely happy. We can now understand what the illusions 
 are. They are the accidental relations of life and are sepa- 
 -j-ated from the true relations of the soul. The true and acci- 
 dental relations are the positive and negative quantities which 
 
. C 134 ) 
 
 occupy the intermediate stages in plus, minus order in various, 
 degrees in various lives, and perform the various sums in our 
 every day life, called the surds, the equations, the binomial 
 theorems — the expension of hope to the Nth term &a View- 
 ing in this light materialism is one entire stupendous error. 
 It is the fearful state of unrest in which all minus quantities 
 commingle to produce that awful condition which the Great 
 Poet of England described in one lifle when he said. 
 " Hope comes not to him that conies to all" 
 The stage of Budhi is thus the highest stage, the Ultima' 
 Thule of Yoga Shastra. It is here where freed from constant 
 incursions of illusions, a Yogi is safely lodged amidst the 
 glory and harmony of eternal truths. Here his thoughts, his 
 preceptions, his deductions are all true. His powers and 
 happiness at the same time are immense. He has conquered 
 passions by a long course of abnegation and his heart is full 
 of peace. He has conqi<ered Abidya or ignorance and his 
 mind is full of divine light. He has conquered sins, and is 
 not subject to the ills of life. He has conquered hunger and 
 thirst, at first by slow and gradual denial, and now by the 
 help of Kachari mudra which by one of its processes shuts 
 out oxygen, he can remain a very long time without food or 
 water, and by the help of another send his thought-body to 
 distant places. He can also communicate with brother Yogis 
 by telepathy, the Nad and Bindu of the Yogis, or the whistle 
 and the cresent with a star in the centre. The uses oiNad 
 and Bindu are not clearly known to me, yet I may venture>to 
 speak a word. The Bindu represents the region in the head 
 commencing bow-like from the perfecting "group of faculties*' 
 on the right side of the head, and touching the "intellectual 
 ones"5tretches to "ideality and sublimity" on the left. The 
 central star may be the faculty which has been defined by the 
 phrenologists to be "the power of seeing and noting objectsi" 
 Now to turn the eyes dream-like upwards to the region 
 indicated above brings about that fludic state, to quote the 
 
( I3S ) • 
 
 language of Miss Anna Blackwell to which we return during 
 sleep, when through the elasticity of perispirit we are enabled to 
 visit our friends in that other life whence we bring back not only 
 the fragmentary and incohirent reminiscences which make up 
 ordinary dreams, but also the deeper insights and wiser resolves 
 that have prompted the saying common to all nations, that 
 night brings cdunsel." In this condition a Yogi can see where 
 his friends are with a vievv to establish a current of electricity 
 and to prepare them by the sound of the whistle for communi- 
 cation. I have not yet seen an actual case of communication 
 in this way. I only infer (an inference which may be wrong) 
 from the circumstances under which I tried on a few occasions 
 to see certain persops after the usual hours for prayer. 
 
 Let me now sum up what I have said above. We have 
 seen that the term spiritual yoga signifies the molecular 
 perfection of a man through various stages of advancement 
 from the earthy to the watery, from the watery to the 
 fiery, from the fiery to the airy, from the airy to the etherial, 
 &c.; that these stages were suggested to the ancients by what 
 Nature is unceasingly doing in her great laboratory resolving 
 solids to liquid, and converting liquid to gaseous and up- 
 wards ; that in carrying this work of advancement by 
 faith and will, a student is assisted in each stage by various 
 moral forces which are within him ; that these moral forces 
 are corrective in the begining, chastising a Yogi every now 
 and a^ain for his transgressions, and then ennobling him daily 
 as he moves onward to the region of mind or abstraction, 
 where he begins to know himself and his powers, and the 
 relations of his soul with one Eternal Cause wherein oiswarjya 
 and madhuri or wealth and sweetness, the wealth of wisdom 
 and power, and the sweetness of love dwell in eternal union;— 
 that he sees here as sung in the well-known sloka. " Puma 
 matha purna mitham, &c., that as a drop of water of an 
 ocean is complete in itself, as a lamp ignited by another is 
 complete in itself, as a crystal detached from a piece of^ 
 
' ( ii6 ) 
 
 mineral is complete in itself, the soul is complete in itself;— 
 that at the stage of mind, the moral forces blossom and 
 expand themselves ; — that the powers of a Yogi consist in 
 his sincerity and his self abnegation ;— that the master key, 
 which opens all the treasuries, is the process by which the 
 thought-man caft be separated, seen and heard ;— that the 
 stage of Bhudi is the Stage of perception of truths, o( self 
 and divine knowledge. I hope' I have said somethMg 
 about self knowledge ; as regards divine knowledge I will 
 satisfy myself by quoting a s/oka which Sri Chaitaiijra put 
 in the mouth of Jiva Goswamy, and thereby fulfil the pro- 
 mise made in the early part of this discourse when I alluded 
 to the intellectual treasures of the Gosw^mis. The s/oakais 
 as follows :— 
 
 Jasya Brahmati sangam kachidapi nigaoiai jati chinmatra satta. 
 ' Pangsbo jasyam sakoi shaibirbbabati basayabnaba raayam puman- 
 
 scha. 
 Akabi jasybi rupam bilasati paramar byamni narayanakhayam. 
 Sa Srikrishna bidhattam shayamifaa Bhagawan premtat pada bbajam. 
 
 I will, here, endeavour to give the substance of tlie 
 above in the fewest possible words. 
 
 He who is described in some parts of the Vedas as 
 Brahma or is known hy His attribute of Wisdom. He who 
 is particularly known in the works of the schoolmen as 
 Purusa in Paramatma or the Spirutual Cause, who having 
 kept the Maya or material forces under his control, manifests 
 the phenomena of creation, destruction and preServatioa. He 
 who is partially described in the Purans as Narayana resting 
 himself high in Parabam or the subtlest Ether — that Being 
 Srikrishna— the Central Force that attracts all — the only 
 Bhagwan or Lord in whom wisdom, power and love dwell In 
 eternal union. May He bless all His worshippers. May He 
 bless you, frciends and gentlemen, to-night. Amen. 
 
LECTURE-VI. 
 
 BEAUTIES OF CHANDI-A SACRED BOOK OF THE HINDUS. 
 
 :[Read at the anniversary of the Yoga Somaj on the i8th June, 1893.] 
 (Dedicated to Maharajkumar Benoyktishna Bahadur, the 
 Patron of the Yoga Sontaj\) ■ . 
 
 .*! There is not in the entire range of Sanskrit literature 
 a A^ork so remarkable for the sublime donception of its 
 sabject, fhe artistic execution of its parts, the grandeur 
 of its verses, and the wealth of its instruction as the Chandi 
 of Rishi Markandya, excepting of course, the great Bhagbat 
 of Maharshi Vyasa. A few amongst us enter into the spirit 
 of the work, and fewer still would be willing to accept it 
 as an allegory — an allegory so sublime and sweet,' that 
 we doubt if there are many equal to it in other ancient 
 languages of the world. It is sung in every Hindu house 
 in prosperity and adversity. It is looked upon with venera- 
 tion, but it is not well understood. I mean, the spirit of the - 
 work is not well understood ; and this is my apology for 
 Selecting the subject, which being a sacred thfeme, is not 
 generally known to the scholars of the West. The difficulty 
 is to render it in a foreign language ; for there are many 
 passages in the work, where eyen a word has a score of allil- 
 sions, and carries with it many a sacred association, which 
 a foreigner is not expected to understand. I will, there- 
 fore, confine myself to noticing. the subject-matter rather 
 than translate the work into a foreign tongue. 
 
 The subject of the poem is, briefly stated, the war between 
 Divine Love and human passions as described by the 
 ancients, namely. Lust, Anger, Coveteousness, Somnolence, 
 Envy and Vanity. These passions, like the weird sisters 
 in Macbeth, meet in the solitary heath of the angel-forsaken 
 heart of man, in the storm of his evil inclinations, and thus 
 speak of their victim among themselves : 
 "We will drain him dry as hay ; 
 Sleep shall, neither night nor day, 
 l8 
 
'( 138 ) 
 
 Hang upon his pent-house lid ; 
 He shall live a man forbid ; 
 Though his bark cannot be lost, 
 ^et it shall be tempest toss'd.'" 
 
 And then promisitig him aloud every joy and pleasure 
 which this world can give, meet again in the dark cave of 
 his sinful heart, boiling there their fearful cauldron. * 
 
 Vanity speaking first says : • 
 
 There shall be no one equal to me 
 
 In power, wealth or glory. 
 
 All shall my command obey, 
 
 And none shall dare, to cross my way. 
 
 Anger says : 
 
 And sparing neither youth nor age 
 
 I'will bring my foes, like birds in cage. 
 iLust says : , 
 
 I'll not scruple for sacred laws nor tie^ 
 
 Where'er beauty gives pleasure to my eyes. 
 Cov^teousness says : 
 
 I'lrsend the wakeful conscience into sleep;, 
 
 And long as cauldron boils in sle^p $hall keep. 
 Envy says': ' 
 
 My greatest pleasure shall e'er be, 
 
 To see my neighbours deep in misery. 
 
 Such are the fiendish passions, born of the flesh, and it is 
 the aim of Divine Love to conquer them to help man to 
 rise to the plane of spirituality. 
 
 Our poem opens in a peaceful hermitage— the Asrant 
 of Mahamuni Madha, which has been described by the 
 author by two qualifying phrases — 
 
 "Prosanta Shapadakimam Muni-sisf^apa Sovititm." ; 
 
 The first of these phrases, though it purports to descriJS;j^ 
 the hermitage as a peaceful retreat of the Mahamuni, yet, it 
 reflects considerably on the moral and spiritij^l, influence 
 of its owner. It is said that although the^ 4^ram was sur- 
 rounded by ferocious beasts, these did not hurt the iam^k'S^. 
 
( 139 ) . 
 
 The second phrase describes the place, as adorned by wise 
 men and their disciples, and thus shows that the hermitage 
 was a seat of both learning and . wisdom; It was, at the 
 same time, a place for Tapa or holy meditation. At such 
 a place, there came wandering two star-crossed personages, 
 seeking for peace and contentment— one was a monarch 
 by the name of Suratha, who by the treachery of his 
 ministers, fed and honoflred by his royal father and himself, 
 was deprived of his throne ;— the other, a rich merchant, 
 once a happy family man, but driven from his own house 
 by his ungrateful wife and children — baser form of ingrati- 
 tude could hardly be "conceived than in the two instances 
 here cited. Yet the trader asks the monarch, why after all 
 that had happened, his heart still yearned to see their faces ? 
 The monarch hears him with sympathy. He too thought in 
 the same strain, and both go to the Mahamuni for wisdom. 
 
 The introduction of these two personages, in the first 
 scene of the work, reflects the author's wisdom, and his know- 
 ledge of humaa nature. Humanity rarely pauses to think 
 seriously of the unreality of the vanities of life,: of God dr 
 the after-life, except under the hard lashes of adversity. 
 ■There are very few in this world to speaik to a Lorenzo 
 in the days of his prospe^ty 
 
 " — ;- — Beware Lorenzo 
 
 , ' ' Prosperity is as much a trial as adversity:" 
 
 It is only when misfortunes come thick upon him, when 
 base treachery and black ingratitude have rent his heart that 
 he perceives how hollow are the world and its joys ! It is 
 then that through tears he recalls to mind the unselfish good 
 he showed to those,^ unaccustomed to kindness. They are, 
 so to speak, the only oasis in the desert of bis past life. 
 .He sees too that the friends he entertained, the beauties he 
 admired and adorned, the ruin arid desolation he worked 
 in innoceut and happy families from feelings of wounded 
 vanity, anger or lust, stand up as ghouls every now and 
 
■ ( HO ) 
 
 again in his desolate heart, where almost every moral feeling 
 and every sweet sympathy was numbed and poisoned' 
 during the somnolent period of his prosperity. He now 
 beholds the vanities of life in their naked ugliness. He now 
 remembers with a shudder the bestial mastery of passions. He 
 repents and wishes to knpw of a life on earth in which love 
 is repaid hundred-fold by love, in which passions like van-« i 
 quishcd enemies obey the mastery of the soul, and wisdom 
 shines undimmed by prosperity or adversity. ' 
 
 To a man to whom this^ world is every thing,— to whom 
 its praises are immortality, its ill-favour is death — to whoait 
 adversity is pure evil, to whom the thought of eternal Kfe comes 
 at thnes, like lightning flashes that die away in. the very 
 clouds that produce them, the true wisdom, embodying the 
 higher aspects of religion, is to be imparted cautiously; and 
 judiciously, if any permanent effect is at all to be aimed at 
 His miild is to be gradually helped to understand the abstra<^,. 
 from a representation at first of many^oncrete subjects, which 
 are to be removed, one by one, as the intellect is trained to . 
 distmguish the grossest from the grosser — the grosser from 
 grcss — from this the subtle, and so on. When, therefore, the 
 monarch and his companion, who thought themselves wise 
 enough, and yet found it difHcult to understand, why after 
 having been driven from their respective places, their hearts 
 still yearned to see the faces of those who had done them 
 wrong, went to the Mahamuni, and desired to know the cause, 
 the sage, like an able teacher, who, knowing the acquirenicnts 
 of his pupils, suits his precepts in language intelligible to 
 them, replied as follows : — 
 
 O Mahabhag ! the knowledge,- which is derived from per- 
 ceptions of natural 'objects by means of the senses, differ 
 widely in different animals. Such knowledge is by no means 
 the birth-right of man only, It is shared by all animals, as is 
 also the attachment born of such knowledge. The birds, 
 when they themselves, may be mach distressed by hunger. 
 
< 141 ) . 
 
 cawy in. their bills food for. their young. Man, the noblest of 
 animals, does the same for his pfTsprings, and often without a 
 hope of benefit from them. The whole animated kingdom is 
 thus thrown into the vortex of the illusion of love — a love 
 which is but the semblance of the Great 'Lows, Makatnajia, 
 which upholds the creation. She* {Mahaipaya^ was primarily 
 the Yogik state of the Diety, which created the universe. She 
 bGv?i«Ghes the creation, atW attrascts by her shadow the minds 
 of the wisest of men to cast them into delusion. Yet she is 
 the only means of salvation, the best knowledge of the Diety, 
 and the origin of family tie, of birth and death. 
 
 To a mind) enlarged and elevated by education and medi- 
 tation, sweetened by purity of love, and strengthened by faith, 
 the words of the Mahamuni quoted above, disclose at once 
 the highest spiritual truths — the philosophy of creation, life, 
 death and immortality. It will be observed that the sage 
 stated that Mahamaya or the Great Love, which upholds and 
 bewitches the creation, was primarily the Yogik state of thp 
 Deity, i.e., a state in which he was originally prompted to 
 create, and is the same Love which upholds and maintains 
 creation. Of this love, deep and infinite as' the creation, we 
 see here only a fraction of a fraction, a mere semblance, in 
 the love of the wife, parent and brethren, in friendship and 
 hospitality. Men, learned and wise, forgetting often the source 
 of all Love, allow themselves fo be bewitched by this little of 
 the infinite, which streams downward to- the earth, and mis- 
 taking the fraction for the whole, the semblance for the sub- 
 stance, they fall into delusion. Yet to know the Infinite, and 
 be happy, there is no other means than through love. 
 
 ■ When Mahamaya was thus described, and the question, 
 asked by the monarch and merchant, was answered without 
 their feelings being hurt, while, at the same time, disclosing 
 to their spiritual eye an endless vista.of glory and love— love 
 
 1 The word JftiAsJBaiW in Sanskrit is feninine. 
 
. ( 142 ) 
 
 which is not born of the senaeis, nor has descertded to man 
 as a hereditary, instinct, they desired to know more of this 
 love. The .5fi3Afl»«»M« then described what forms the subject 
 of the poem. He said, though the ways of Mahamt^a. 
 surpass human intellect, yet they are often intelligible to 
 thinking minds. Her mission is Salvation. Whenever the 
 immortals are distressed at the sad prospect of degeneratuig 
 humanity, brought on by irreligion and, their ministration to 
 the senses, she appears to save. This is true in all ages of 
 the world. She appears to kill the Asuras or demons. The 
 King of Demons is Shumbha (the desire to shine or vanity) 
 whom she kills last after killing his generals. The Mahamuni 
 then describes: 
 
 The Makamaya. 
 
 ■ When in the beginning, the Great God (Vishmi) was 
 absorbed in Yoga-Nidra or in His Creative Will, and Brahma, 
 the creative principle as well as matter, had already sprung, 
 there sprung from the matter two mighty Asuras, (forcesji 
 ilf<z^>iM and .^d!f>izz'a (evidently water and fire), who waged' 
 war for 5,000 years, a period geologically not extravagant 
 The Brahma prayed to the Almighty Will, and from the 
 Will sprang the Divine effulgence Makamaya to whom 
 Brahma thus prayed* : — ^ 
 
 "Thou art O Devi ! the best of mothers. Thy existeoc^ 
 is the creation. Thou wert the spiritual universe before 
 creation of the material. Thou art the preserving spirit 
 after creation, and Thou shsdt be the Destroying Principle 
 when the universe goes back to Vishna Thou art the Great 
 Knowledge, the Great Intelligence, the Great I-ove, and 
 the Great Memory of the past, present and future. Thou 
 representest in Thee the three great principles— the Satya 
 Raja and Tama or Preservation, Progress and Destruction 
 And further on, "Thou art the most lovely of all lovely 
 
 » I have rendered the best porthw of the prayer into English.— E. C. 
 
C r43 ) ■ 
 
 Thou art the Best of the best. Thou art the Soul of the 
 creation. Thou art the Want and Supply of the creation. 
 Thou hast enchanted the Great Vishnu ; and language fails 
 to describe Thee, O Devi .'" 
 
 Incarnation of Mahamaya to Destroy Asuras. 
 
 It has already been said that whenever the spiritual world 
 which is in sympathy with the material, feels distressed for 
 humanity, and prays to the Great or Infinite Love, MaJmmayd 
 incarnates herself to sav9 it from destruction. To suit the 
 intellect of the questioners, and more with the object of im- 
 pressing them, that the Mahamuni describes in allegory the 
 Incarnation of Mahamaya, her war with the demons, and the 
 salvation of humanity. 
 
 It is said that in ancient time, there was a mighty King 
 by the name of Shumbha, who considered himself superior to 
 sun, moon, stars, firp, wind, water anc} the other elements. 
 His reign was a reign of terror. He spread a terror even to 
 the immortals, and they prayed in unison to the Infinite Love. 
 The prayer, which can hardly be rendered into English, is by 
 far the best part of the poem. The Devi heard their prayer, 
 and incarnated hei'self, and sat in the Hintackal (Himalaya), 
 the loveliest woman on earth. When Chanda, and Manda* 
 the generals of King Shumbha (desire to shine or vanity) saw 
 her, they went at once to Lord Vanity, and descrided to him 
 what a lovely woman they had seen, and urged him to gain 
 possession of her, little dreaming who she was. The King 
 proceeded to act on the suggestion. On her refusing to hear 
 his pesrsuasion, he sent his powerful General, DkutKraitkkana, 
 or Anger to bring her dead or alive. 
 
 The Devi refusing again, and this time, to be taken cap- 
 tive, the monarch Shumbha declared 
 
 War. 
 
 The beauty of the poem in this part consists in the grand- 
 
 ^ Chanid d,aA Manda at Covetcousness and Somnolence. 
 
< ( 144 ) 
 
 eur of the verses and the transformations which the Devi suc- 
 cessively under-went to kill each general ; for instance, she 
 rode on a lion to kill Dhutnralochana or Anger. She took the 
 form of Kalt or the Destroying Principle * to slay covetous- 
 ness, somnolence and lust or the demons, Otanda, Manda and 
 Raktabija ; of Chandika to kill Envy, and of Ambika to kill 
 Vanity. These different forms of the Devi are in harmony 
 with the demons of desires she killed, and enhance the beauty 
 of the poem by imparting strength to the verses ; while, at the 
 same time, they show the possession of the power on the part 
 of the author of delineating moral beauties in an uncommon 
 degree 
 
 The Sequel. 
 
 When the Generals of the monarch, self or vanity, fell one 
 after another in battle, he (the monarch) came last to fight 
 Him the Devi slew in the form of Ambika or Mother. What 
 Vanity can stand the sight ojf an all-loving mother? If, how- 
 ever, intense perverseness intervenes to tempt the self to fight, 
 she says to it with^a smile the oft-quoted words which she 
 spoke to Mahisasura : — 
 
 " Gurja giirja khanam marha mudha jabat pibamnham" 
 
 " Howl, howl, you fool, awhile, till I drink of the cup of 
 wine." 
 
 What is this wine ? It is wine of love. But She, Infinite 
 Love herself, what did she mean by the words, " till I drink of 
 the cup of wine ?" Is this not some thing like painting a lilyl 
 Yes, it is necessary sometimes to paint a lily to please tho^ 
 who have no eyes for " beauty unadorned ", as a cup of pure 
 milk is sweetened to suit the whims of a child. 
 
 When, however, the king himself fell in battle, there was 
 joy in heaven, and the immortals sang once again their holy 
 orison to the Deity as Narayani or the Maternal Part of God 
 
 .. ' T" ™^"?. ^"^* <"■ Covetousuess one ought tokwp the thought always in mind th*t he is t 
 die. Gratification of such dcsirea only tend to £im their tomes. uc •» v. 
 
( I4S ) = 
 
 i Vishnu. Tlie poem in this part is particular! jr beautiful and 
 pathetic, and rich in Pouranik or classical allusions. 
 
 Thus in Chandi,' Muni Markandya described the demons 
 of desires that dwell in us, and tempt us to minister to the 
 senses. Thus he showed how' by ministration to the senses, 
 man gradually is deprived of the help of the spiritual light 
 within to fall into delusion — to mistake the love of the world 
 as the true love. Thus Be showed how, when, humanity is 
 on the road to destruction, the immortals feel themselves 
 sMpremely unhappy, and pray to Infinite Love to save it ; how 
 theGrace of God then comes to cast the delusion away, and 
 shows the Mercy's Seat above ; — how to attain that grace, 
 self-surreader and Samadhi are necessary, as was exempli- 
 fied "in the subsequent course of life of the monarch and the 
 merchant; — how in the state of Samadhi, a man not only 
 rises to the plane of spirituality, but to quote my own words, 
 he gets here " glimpses of those dear souls, lost to him on 
 earth ; — of fcwms of loveliness and grace, compared to which 
 the best likenesses of the loveliest beauties on earth are but 
 rough sketches ; — of hearts more tender in love and sympathy 
 than the most loving sister, wife or mother.'' 
 
 The. last Word.. 
 
 The only poem of the West, which can be compared 
 with the Chandi of Rishi Markaftdya, is the Paradise Lost. 
 They both are allegorical. They both represent how weak 
 is man to the voice of temptation, ''in the war between the 
 Almighty and Satan in the Paradise Lost, the victory of the 
 Almighty is a conclusion as much previously anticipated by 
 the reader, as the war between Divine Grace and the passions 
 in the Chandi. It is said that the power of Milton "acts like 
 an incantation, and that its merit lies more in its obvious 
 meaning than in its occult power." The same may be said 
 of the power of the author of Chandi In the description of 
 Paradise, of the temptation of the Devil, of battles, Stc., 
 
 19 *. 
 
. ( 146 ) 
 
 Milton is said to be exceedingly happy in the choice of words 
 in denoting niotion,' sounds, and emotions of the mind ; so is 
 Rishi Markahdyia in his destription of the creation of the 
 world, of the incarnation of Makamaya, Her war with the 
 demons— the weapons which the immortals presented Her 
 with for killing the demons, &c. I cannot say anything 
 about the moral influence of Paradise Lost on the Fnglish 
 nation, but I can say this in regard'to Chandi that its moral 
 influence on the Hindus is very great. The reverence with 
 which a Hindu reads the poem, and worships it, the observati-' 
 ces in regard to daily life which are attended to by him, for in- 
 stance, fasting to a certain extent — abstinence from fish, flesh or 
 wine, purity of character, external cleanliness, regard for truth, 
 cannot but tend to malce him morally and spiritually good." 
 
 LECTURE-VII. 
 
 TATWAS : WHAT THEY MAY BE ? 
 
 "The Psychical World, like the wotlJd of Astronomy opens 
 infinite avenues before us. Study, study without ceasing I " 
 Let no system stand in the way. Let us seek truth freely. !" 
 
 M Camille Ftammariou. 
 
 I WAS lately studying P'avanbijoya Saradya, and parti- 
 cularly that interesting portion of it, which relates to the 
 alternate appearance and disappearance of Tatwas'^mM, 
 delicate lights of different colours — in man, perceivable only 
 by the gifted and the trained. These lights or flames are 
 said to be of five different hues, viz, yellow, white, red, 
 pale blue and of mixed colours. Their duration is varied-': 
 The yellow lasting for 2b, the white for i6, the red for 12, 
 the blue for 8 and the mixed for 4 minutes, giving a sum 
 total of 60 minutes. It follows, therefore, that each light or 
 flame appears and disappears in man 24 times in the course 
 of a day or 8760 times in the course of a year. The/ again i 
 are said to have each a distinct shape, the yellow has the 
 
( 147 ) . 
 
 shape of a square, the white of a crescent, the red of a triangle, 
 the blue ofa circle and the mixed of dotted aspect, resembling 
 the milky way. And if it be not too much of a strange thing 
 at one time, I may add, that each colour has a separate 
 taste : thus serially, the yellow has a sweet taste, the white 
 sweet and astringent, the red bitter, the blue sour and the 
 mixed an acrid taste. 
 
 Looking into the wdnderous fabric of the human body 
 with the spirit of God enshrined in it, the Psalmists exclaimed, 
 "we are fearfully and wonderfully made." If we, however, 
 can peer within us ds the seers of ancient times, and in modern 
 times, men gifted like Count de Treston, Dr. Gregory, the 
 late distinguished Professor of Chemistry in the University' 
 of Edinburgh, etc., did, and see for ourselves the alternate 
 appearance and disappearance of these coloured flames in us 
 as described by the ancients— the mysterious symbols of 
 creation with an envelope of delicately attenuated atmosphere 
 extending two to three inches from and around the human 
 %ody — how much more would we not wonder ! Yet these 
 lights are not of same intensity nor is the envelope of at- 
 mosphere of same length and quality with all, the pre- 
 ponderance of good and evil in us modifying them. 
 
 We have said above that these coloured lights were 
 
 stesignated by the ancients as Tatzifas or the primary principles 
 
 of creation, which may be arranged in the following order, 
 
 showing the evolution of the gaseous, liquid and solid matters 
 
 from the pvimaty Aiask and the gradual resolution of the 
 
 etherial : — 
 
 (Evolution) (Resolution) 
 
 Akastt Earth 
 
 Air Water 
 
 I '■ 
 
 Tej (fire) "^f J 
 - I ' 
 
 Water Aw 
 I I 
 
 Earth. -^kash. 
 
. ( 148 ) 
 
 The processes of evolution and resolution are going on 
 incessantly, and, what to us, eternally in Nature for purposes 
 best known to the incomprehensible. The sums, the planets, 
 the telescppic nebulae, the man and all terrestrial objects 
 have each an atmosphere emitting some light In man it 
 ?eems that these lights R^rtakp ofdivers colours, showing 
 that he is the microcosm or the little universe in himself; 
 
 . But then who have seen thes^ light? ^nd, who are res- 
 ponsible for the very starange statements made abov^ ? Might, 
 not the lights have been, to say the le^st, fancies of the, 
 overwrought imagination of the ancient Rishis ? Are there, 
 proofs convmcing ? If not where is the necessity of pursuing, 
 a subject which, as they say, are open to a selected few ? Wq 
 will answer these questions as we go on. 
 
 ; "Men of a certain make pf mind hate new tdeas^ and set 
 th,eir face agajnst them with a determined opposition. Strange 
 to say, this is often the case with men of learning ; and the 
 more so, indeed, if the truth belongs to the domain of thought,, 
 This self-sufficiency is a pomplete barrier to theinlQt of new 
 ideas. Whatever does not square with the preconceived; 
 opinions) or already-packed up notions, is qu9.ckery, charlatan- 
 ism, sheer nonsense or sornethiftg worse. In fact, these men 
 assume a thorough knowledge of the Arcana, of the Uni- 
 verse, In their han^ is held the key to the temple of all 
 knowledge. The law5 of matter— whether qf atpm or of world, 
 — the l^ws of mind, of QerebromeDta|ioi;i or of spirit whether 
 thro^^gh an ordinary medium> or through mediaj-extraordinary 
 are alike familiar to them. They are the God-men of this; 
 earth, and canpot be fashed (as the Scotch say) with the im- 
 pertinence of even a fresh suggestion in the domain of 
 Science unless from themselves. They are the great ' I am' of 
 every age ; those who alone can peer into the future as well 
 as tell of the doings of the past. There they ktand like a 
 mighty Teneriffe, as if the vast sea of rolling events' and ever 
 developted phenomena serging at its base in evet .ceaseless 
 
( 149 )• 
 
 foam was always in a state of perfect calm. Nothing seem 
 to affect them; neither the experience of past ages tior the 
 changes of public opinion, nor the rise of unheard fo*ms of 
 knowledge, nor the evolution of new relationships as startKng 
 in theif results as they are grand in intellectual (conception. 
 There they remain solid as granite and impenetrable as ada-, 
 mant Sure sudi incarnation of self-esteem cannot always 
 remain unaffected by the* clash of circumstances and the rush: 
 of new thoughts which flood them on every side. At the, 
 present time mines of fresh strata of thought are continually; 
 being opened up, sparkling with diamonds of matchless beau- 
 ty. Change is now the characteristic' of every thing." 
 
 Thirty years before we could hardly have had the courage 
 to broach a subject like this ; and even now to repeat again 
 when mines of fresh strata of thought are continually being 
 opened up in every department of science, we would have 
 thrice paused to think of how much we would be ridiculed by 
 the great ' I am' of our time, had we not been to certain extent 
 protected by the armour of truths discovered by Baron 
 yon Richenbach and tested over and over by other scientific 
 men. Dr. S. Eadon, M. D. to whose able synopsis of facts J 
 am much indebted in regard to what he termed a new force, 
 called " Od" discovered by the Viennese philosopher, says that 
 it is different from caloric, light, heat, electricity, magnetisn^ 
 or any other dynamic influence at present known. Startling 
 as the discovery seemed in our days, it appears to be a part of 
 the truth discovered by the sages in the pre-Buddbistic era of 
 andent India. The Viennese philosopher, says Dr. Edooj 
 selected the wprd ' Od', seeing that • Od' was found- everyr 
 where but concentra,ted now^iere, and that no special; or sepa-, 
 rate; sense for its perception had been bestowed, as light /qi; 
 the eye or sound for the ear, ,The Etymology of the term i^ 
 thus accounted for : — 
 
 ' " Va in Sanskrit means to go (to flash). 
 « Vadoe in Latin signifies' I gq.'^; Vas^ in old Norse 'I.gp^ 
 
•( 150 ) 
 
 quickly' and is found in Wodan in old German, and means all- 
 pervadihg. Every substance in Nature; whether atdih or 
 worldi is Impregnated with ' Od.' It streams from- the ti^llky 
 way — the lengthened path- way of our own universe— attd is 
 probably the connecting link of suns, planets, of visible^*: 
 universe." 
 
 There is a pretty tale among us, which bears so^ie 
 analogy to the opening part of our present discourse. OnC^ 
 upon a time a carpenter, a painter and a weaver set out olf 
 their respective homes to seek for employment in somi& 
 distant place. On their way they met, conversed and becam# 
 friends. Towards evening they came upon a wood, wher6 
 they found another companion, a Brahman. As night 
 approached, they became anxious as to how they should pass 
 the night in a wood. They discussed the matter and 
 arranged among themselves, that one of them shouldi by 
 ttirns, remain awake during the four parts of the night, and 
 watch over his companions, while they slept. According to 
 this arrangement, the carpenter was to remain awake during 
 the first watch; He agreed to watch ; and in order to keep 
 himself awake, he gathered together sufficient wood, and set 
 himself to construct the figure of a woman. When the- 
 second piart of the night approached, he finished his work, 
 and woke the painter, and went to sleep. When the painter 
 woke he saw before him the work done by the carpenter, and 
 instead of idly passing his time, he began to paint the figure' 
 as best he could. When the third part of the night approache^^: 
 he woke the weaver, and without saying any thing to him, 
 went to sleep. The weaver seeing what his companions- had 
 done set himself, in right earnest to prepare a fine cloth to 
 cover the nakedness of the figure. When he finished his task, 
 he woke the Bi'ahman, who, by the by, was a Yogi in disguise. 
 He saw what his coippanions had done, smiled and engaged 
 himself in invoking spirit-help to give life for a time to the 
 inanimate figure. The result was that when the morning 
 
dawned, the carpenter, the weaver, the painter all saw before 
 them a h'ving breathing woman. Then came a dispute 
 among the four as to who should claim her.' 
 
 However glorious might have been the study of man in 
 ancient times, the scientific study of him began only in^ the 
 l8th century. The anatomists studied with great diligenee 
 and accuracy the frame- work of man, and gave to the world 
 the human skeleton, the head, trunk and extremities;=consist- 
 ing of 254 bones. It was next the turn of the physiologists 
 to show that the muscles were the instruments of motion, and 
 explained the functions of the brain, the lungs, the blood 
 vesfsels, the stomach, the bowels, the; liver and other organs, 
 as also the senses of hearing and seeing &c. The :real study 
 of the human mind also dates from about this ftime-^the 
 time when the structure and functions of the nervous system 
 :were better known. The properties of the mind . were 
 then summed up in feeling, volition or willj intellect, or 
 thought. Towards *he end of the i8th century, and in the 
 beginning of the 19th, Dr. Frances Joseph Gall and Dri 
 Sparzheim gave to the world: the science of Phrenology, and 
 described the seats of divers propensities, sentiments and 
 faculties in the human head, arranged in groups just the same 
 as the stars in heaven are arranged in groups. 
 
 The enquiry into the existence and nature of soul began 
 in the middle of the present century from observances of some 
 spontaneous spiritual manifestations in America and Europe. 
 The enquiries are day by day deeping in interest, as several 
 scientific men have lent considerable help in the elucidation 
 of spiritual phenomena. In the meantime. Baron Reichen- 
 bach made a startling discovery— the existence of a hitherto 
 unknown force which we have partially described above. The 
 question now is who found the real man ? 
 
 It is necessary to mention a few facts, relating to this new 
 discovery. The sources whence Od" emanates, writes Dr. 
 Eadon, may be shown in many ways. Open a champagne 
 
' ( IS2 ) 
 
 bottle in. the presence of a sensitive itl the dark,: the' bottle 
 will appear all of a glow, as if illuminated with show/ with a 
 light wavering cloud hosrering! over it. This is ^QS from effer* 
 ■oescience. Throw a spoonful of table-salt into a glass of water 
 in the dark, shake it, and the- sensitive sees; the water full of 
 bright light, and if the glass is taken into the left hand, it will 
 feel cold. This is 'Od' from^S?w//i? Solution: Pot a wirrf of 
 copper or zinc in a glaiss of diluted sulphuric acid, the whole 
 wire to a sensitive will be on fire. This is 'Od' from dissolving 
 htetals in acidsi Dissolve a soda-powder in half a tumbler of 
 water, in another a powder of tartaric add, pour the contents 
 into that of the other, 'instantly the mixture glows with a 
 bright light, and a large white flame rises from the surfacei; 
 This is the ■ developinent of 'Od' from dhemical decomposi- 
 tion. 
 
 : When the bell'glass of an air pump was struck, a light was 
 at once visible with the sound, and the louder the sound,! the 
 brighter the light. From this it is infefred, there is, 'Od' in 
 sound. 
 
 Can 'Od' be developed, writes the same authority by th6 
 friction of solids, or by the friction of liquids against solids? 
 In order to test the developement of *0d'. by the fricttdnof 
 solids, a copper wire was fastioned into a little board, the 
 other end being held by a sensitive, Miss. Maria Maixt This 
 hoard was now rubbed with another like it, and a sensation of 
 warmth was at once felt by the sensitive. The end of the 
 wire was next rubbed in a grindstone, the whole length of 
 wire glowed with 'Od'. From this experiment the frictipnof 
 solids evidently produced 'Od'. Next it was tried whether the 
 friction of fluids against solids would educe it. Closed bottles, 
 containing: alcohol,, ether, acetic acid, croasote, turpentiae,i and 
 water were each shaken in the dark, and to the sensitive each 
 glowed with light. 
 
 From the experiments of Baron Von Reichenbach with 
 ,162 sensitives, of all classes, of all ages and of- both soxes— 
 
( 153 ), 
 
 professors, physicians, bankers, mechanics, Government ofH- 
 cers, servants, noblemen and even members of the Imperial 
 family — it seems that the human body is enveloped in a deli- 
 cately attenuated atmosphere ; the right half of the body at- 
 mosphere being of a bluish colour, the left half of a sort of 
 orange red. For the purposes of reciprocal influence, the 
 odylic atmosphere of two persons need only touch at their cir- 
 cumferential edges without even interpenetrating each other 
 in the slightest degree, but if one or both parties be inordinate- 
 ly Impressionable, an effect can be produced at the distance 
 of Inches, feet and even yards. Of course, body to body, as 
 the^right hand placed on the left shoulder will give rise at 
 once or shortly, to a coolish agreeable sensation. This 'Od' 
 force streams from the finger ends. 
 
 From the above quotations it will appear that all terrestrial 
 objects are more or less impregnated with 'Od';— that it can 
 be developed ;— that the human body is enveloped . in a deli- 
 cately attenuated atmosphere, the right half being of bluish 
 colour and the left half of orange red ; that when the inten- 
 sity of one colour or forpe is counteracted by the other colour 
 emanating from a separate individual having afifinity, an 
 agreeable cooling sensation is produced, which acts as a heal- 
 ing agent in a large number of cases of nervous disorders. 
 The west has, it appears, investigated the subject so far. The 
 ancient East went a step further. Beyond the external ether- 
 iura glowing in bluish and orange red light, the East says, 
 there is an etherium also for the soul, which glows in five 
 alternate colours as described before. Is this true ? 
 
 In the first place, it is necessary to say that the two sides 
 of the human body, right, and left, differ widely from each 
 other. This was illustrated by me by two printed diagrams 
 (ancieht and rnodern) in my paper on Raj Yoga, wherein the 
 views of Professor Buchanon, M D. of Boston, and those of 
 the author oiMaha Nirvana Tantra were compared, showing 
 at the same time that the left side contains virtues which are 
 20 • 
 
( IS4 ) 
 
 of gentler nature, while the rigirt contains those which are 
 sterner. 
 
 Then comes the strange question how m&ny personaHties 
 there are in a man? We have the right-side man, the left- 
 side man and the soul man, or philosophically spcaldng the 
 conscious personality, the sub-conscious personality and un- 
 conscious personality. I quote here one or two weii-auili<»>- 
 ticated instances of conscious, subconscious and unconscious 
 personalities from the last December issue of the Review of 
 Reviews. 
 
 Louis V— and his two Personalities. 
 
 " There is at present a patient in France, whose case is so 
 extraordinary that I cannot do better than transcribe the 
 report of it here, especially because it tends to show. not only 
 that we have two personalities, but that each may use by pre- 
 ference a separate lobe of brain. The conscious personality 
 occupies the left, and controls the right hand, the unconscious 
 the right side of the head, and controls the lefl hand. It also 
 brings to light a very curious not to say appalling fact, namely, 
 the immense moral difference there may be between the 
 conscious and unconscious personalities." 
 
 From the story of Madame B and her three personalities 
 I give the following extract : — 
 
 " Madame B, who is still under Professor Richet's observar . 
 tion, is one of the favourite subjects of the French hypnotiser. 
 She can be put to sleep at almost any distance, and when 
 hypnotised completely changes her character. There are two 
 well-defined personalities in her, and a third of a more mys- 
 terious nature than either of the two first, The normal wak- , 
 ing state of the woman is called Leonie I, the hypnotic state 
 Leonie II. The third occult personality of the lowest depth-.^ 
 is called Leonie III." 
 
 " This poor peasant," says Professor Janet, " is in her nor- 
 mal state a serious and a somewhat melancholy woman, calm 
 
( 155 ) • 
 
 and slow, very gentle and extremely timid. No one would 
 suspect the existence of the person whom she includes with 
 her. Hardly is she entranced, when she is metamorphosed ; 
 her face is no longer the same ; her eyes indeed remain closed, 
 but the acuteness of the other senses compensates for the loss 
 of sight She becomes gay, noisy and restless to an unsup- 
 portable degree ; she continues good-natured, but she has 
 acquired a singular tendency to irony and bitter jests. In 
 this state she does not recognize her identity with her waking 
 self. ' That good woman is not' she says ; ' she is too stupid.' 
 
 '"Madame B in the normal state,' says Professor Janet, 'has 
 a husband and two children, Leonie II, speaking in the 
 somnambulistic trance, attributes the husband to the ' other' 
 (Madame B), but attributes the children to herself At last I 
 learnt that her former mesmerisers, as bold in their practice as 
 certain hypnotisers of to-day, had induced somnambulism at 
 the time of her accouchments. Leonie II, therefore, was quite 
 right in attributing the children to herself ; the rule of partition 
 was unbroken, and the sonambulism was characterized by a 
 duplication of the subject's existence.' 
 
 " The spontaneous acts of the unconsicous self," says also 
 M. Janet, here meaning by inconscient, the entity to which 
 he has given the name of Leonie III "may ako assume a very 
 reasonable form. A form which were it better understood, 
 might, perhaps serve to explain certain cases of insanity. 
 Madame B, during her sonambulism i. e., Leonie II, had had 
 a sort of hysterical crises, she was restless and noisy ; and I 
 could not quiet her. Suddenly she stopped and said to me 
 with terror, " Oh, who is talking to one like that ? It frightens 
 me." "No one is talking to you." ' Yes !' there on the left"! 
 And she got up and tried to open a wardrobe on her left hand 
 to see if some one was hidden there. ' What is that you 
 hear ?' I asked. 'I hear on the left a voice which repeats 
 l^enough, enough, be quiet, you are a nuisance."' Assuredly 
 %e voice which thus spoke was a reasonable one, for Leonie 
 
( 156 ) 
 
 II was unsupportable but I had suggested nothing of the 
 kind and had no idea of inspiring a hallucination of hearing. 
 Another day Leonie II was quite calm and obstinately refused, 
 to answer a question which I asked. Again she heaij|| the 
 same voice to the left saying ' Come, be sensible, youv must 
 answer.' Thus the unconscious sometimes gave her excellent 
 advice. b 
 
 'And in effect as soon as Leonfe III was summonfe into 
 communication, she accepted the responsibility of this cMnmu- 
 nication. 'What was it that happened' asked M.| Janet, 
 ' when Leonie 1 1 was so frightened ?' " Oh ! nothing. It was 
 I who told her keep quiet ; I saw she was annoying you , I 
 don't know why she was so frightened." 
 
 " Note the significance of this incident. Here we have got 
 stt the root of a hallucination. We have not merely iaferen- 
 tial but direct evidence that the imaginary voice, whic Jterri- 
 fied Leonie II proceeded from a profound stratum of consci- 
 ousness in the same individual. In what way, by theiaid of 
 what nervous mechanism was the startling monitioftcon- 
 veyed ?" m 
 
 Thus, we see by the light of modern investigaticas, the 
 truth of the statements made by the Rishis about cen- 
 turies before, namely, that the conscious-man differs from the 
 sub-conscious and that the unconscious differs widely frqan the 
 two, and that the physical or body-man has an envelope of 
 atmosphere. It remains for us to see what the Tatwas may- 
 be. We have said before that the envelope of physical atmos- 
 phere can be seen by an uninitiated, provided he be ajsensi- 
 tive, but the Tatwik lights can be seen only by the tr^edl 
 similarly as the spectrum analysis of stellar light can beidone 
 by those who are educated in that line. In 1864 the observer 
 who wished to determine whether a special substance e^dsteo 
 in the vapourous atmosphere of a star, had to compaa th|j 
 spectrum of the star with such precision that the image of thft 
 star should fall on the fine slit of, the spectroscope, an«th' 
 
( IS7 ) 
 
 light of the star being then shifted out by the action! 
 prism in the spectroscope, so as to form a rainbovv-tir. 
 spectrum, and now though an easier method, a photographit. 
 record of the spectrum is taken, still this can be done only by 
 the trained. The processes by which the Tatwik lights can 
 be seen are to be diligently studied ; and I would be only too 
 happy to describe them here, but a mere mention of them will 
 DC worse than useless without initiation. 
 
 We know, the astronomers have marshalled stars into 
 orders, different in colour, which spectroscopic analysis shows 
 to be due to difference in their present physical constitution. 
 The spectrum, so far as is known, has been taken of the blue, 
 violet, red, ultra violet, but it is not known to us whether the 
 parts invisible beyond the red and violet, have been photo- 
 graphed. Anyhow, the stellar colours bear a close ana- 
 logy to the colours of the Tatwik flames or lights, and the 
 outward etherium, indicate that man is a cosmic being. 
 We can venture to say so much and no more in this 
 paper, and under the present state of our knowledge. 
 There is one more point for us to touch. To us the ex- 
 istence of Tatwik or soul-lights is not a mere matter of 
 faith, but a logical certainty, the soul being strictly speaking, 
 not the spirit, and in order to be a spirit, it must progress and 
 divest itself, so to speak, of its elemental robes. Before the 
 discovery of the planetoids there was a " striking break in the 
 progf!ession of Mars and Jupiter," which first suggested the 
 idea of a missing planet. Similarly, if the soul-lights be 
 ignored there will appear a striking break, and the missing 
 lights of the unconscious personality will be either wanted, or 
 the phenomena investigated by the scientific men of the pre- 
 sent century as described above, ignored in their entirety. 
 
 It may be noted herf? that my own investigations into" 
 the subject, dates from the time, when I was put in sola 
 charge of the Temple of Yoga Somaj, and called upon to 
 vi^orship the images there with the fresh leaves and flon;ers 
 
C i5« ) 
 
 /bloom at the place, I then enquired what every Hindu 
 ^ uld enquire, why a certain image representing cer- 
 tain attribute cf the Great God should be worshipped with 
 certain flowers and leaves. In my investigations I found that 
 the anciei, t Tantricks had gone through the subject of light 
 with as much assiduity and precision as the modern philo- 
 sophers have. The results of my investigations made with the 
 help of a sensitive, a girl of about lo years, I keep, back for 
 another paper, and specially for those who have faith in 
 Hindu Religion and Hindu mode of v^orship. 
 
 THE END 
 
 Printed by Umbica Churn Shome, at the "New Britannia PrgaJ, 78, Amheii-t Street, 
 
 Calcutta.