Chapter 7 LUZ OR THE ABODE OF IMMORTALITY
MANY races possess a tradition of an 'underground world'. We do not intend to bring them all together here, as in any case some of them have little direct relevance to our topic. However, generally speaking, the 'cult of the caverns' is more or less conjoined with the idea of an 'interior' or 'central' place, and in any case the symbol of the cave and that of the heart are very close. [1] On the other hand, there actually exist in Central Asia, America, and possibly elsewhere, caves and underground places where certain initiatory centres have been able to persist for centuries. It is not hard to disentangle one important symbolic fact from these stories, indeed the symbolical associations surrounding these centres indicate that a definite symbolic order, rather than simple prudence, determined the location of the underground centres. SaintYves might perhaps have been able to explain this symbolism, but did not, which has given his work some overtones of fantasy. [2] As for Ossendowski, he was certainly incapable of reading any but the most obvious literal meaning into the symbolism attached to what he was told.
Among the traditions referred to just now, there is one particular belonging to Judaism that carries a special significance. It concerns a mysterious town called 'Luz'. [3] This name was originally that of the place where Jacob dreamed his dream, and which he subsequently called 'Beith-El' or 'House of God'. [4] It is said that the 'Angel of Death' was unable to enter this town, and had no power over it. By an odd but significant convergence, some place it near to Alborj, which is equally, for the Persians, the 'abode of immortality'. Near Luz there is purported to be an almond-tree (also luz in Hebrew), at the base of which a hollow leads to an underground passage [5] that gives on to the town, which itself is completely hidden. In its many guises, the word luz appears to be derived from a root form denoting everything that is covered, concealed, enveloped, silent, and secret. It is interesting to note that the words describing the Heavens had originally the same meaning. Usually coelum is equated with the Greek koilon or 'hollow' (which Varro indicates with his 'a cavo coelum" to be more closely connected with 'cavern' than is popularly supposed). However, the most ancient, original, and most accurate form is judged to be caelum, a word very near to the verb caelare, 'to hide'. In Sanskrit, too, Varuna is born out of var, 'to cover'. This is precisely the meaning of the root kal which is related to the Latin celare, another form of caelare, and to its Greek synonym kaluptein. [6] The Greek Ouranos is nothing but another form of the same word, var changing easily to ur. These words, then, can signify 'that which covers', [7] 'that which conceals', [8] and 'that which is hidden'. The last has the double meaning
of that which is concealed from the senses in the suprasensitive realm, and that which during periods of darkness or occlusion ceases to be an openly manifested tradition, so that the 'celestial world' becomes the 'underground world'.
There is still another connection to be made with 'Heaven': Luz is called the 'Blue City', and blue, the colour of sapphire, [9] is known as the celestial colour. In India it is said that the blue colour of the atmosphere is produced by the reflection of light on the meridional face of Meru, the face that looks upon the ]ambu-Dwipa and is made of sapphire. Obviously, this is the same symbolism. The Jambu-Dwipa represents not only India, as usually thought, but represents the whole terrestrial world in its present condition. This world can therefore be seen as being situated entirely to the south of Meru since the latter is identified with the North Pole. [10] The seven dwipas (literally, 'islands' or 'continents') emerge successively during the course of certain cyclic periods so that each is the terrestrial world in its corresponding period. They form a lotus shape and are orientated towards its centre, Meru, in accordance with the seven regions of space. [11] Therefore one face of Meru is turned towards each of the seven dwipas, each of which
reflects one of the colours of the rainbow. [12] The overall synthesis of these colours is white, which is universally attributed to supreme spiritual authority, [13] and which is the colour of Meru taken as a unity. (It will be seen later on that Meru is in fact called the 'White Mountain'.) White thus distinguishes the intrinsic Meru from its other faces that only represent its aspects in relation to the dwipas. It would appear that the Meru assumes a different position for each period of manifestation by a dwipa, but in fact the centre Meru remains immovable, and it is the orientation of the terrestrial world dependent on it which changes from one period to the next.
To return to the Hebrew word luz, whose many different meanings merit careful study: in the ordinary sense it means 'almond', by extension 'almond-tree' and also 'kernel'; now, the kernel is the innermost, the most hidden, part and is completely enclosed, so giving rise to the idea of 'inviolability [14] that is found also in the name Agarttha. But it is also the name given to a specific, indestructible body, symbolically represented by an extremely hard bone, to which the body, after death, remains attached until its resurrection. [15] As the kernel contains the germ and as the bone contains the marrow, so luz contains those elements necessary for the restoration of an
the primordial point in space and time; the six phases of time, corresponding to the six directions of space respectively, are six cyclic periods, subdivisions of another more general period, and sometimes symbolically represented as six millenia; they can also be likened to the first six 'days' of Genesis, the seventh, or Sabbath, being the phase of return to the Principle, i.e. to the centre. We thus have seven periods to which can be related the respective manifestations of the seven dwipas; if each of these periods is a Manvantara, the Kalpa comprises two complete septenary periods; it is, moreover, understood that the same symbolism is applicable to different degrees, according to whether more or less extended cyclic periods are envisaged.
${12}$ See what has been said earlier about the symbolism of the rainbow. There are in reality but six colours, complementary two by two and corresponding to the six directions opposed two by two; the seventh colour is nothing else than white itself, in the same way as the seventh region is identified with the centre.
${13}$ It is therefore not without reason that the Pope is dressed in white in the Catholic hierarchy.
${14}$ This is why the almond-tree has been taken as the symbol of the Virgin.
${15}$ It is perhaps of interest to note that this Judaic tradition very probably inspired certain theories of Leibnitz about 'the animal' (i.e. the living being) as perpetually subsisting with a body but 'miniaturized' after death.
individual being; and this restoration will operate under the influence of a 'celestial dew' to revivify the dry bones. Saint Paul describes the process most graphically: 'Sown in corruption he will be resuscitated in glory. [16] Here, as elsewhere, 'glory' tallies with the Shekinah envisaged in the superior world and with which the 'celestial dew' has a close relationship, as has been brought out in a preceding chapter. The luz, being imperishable, [17] is in the human world the 'kernel of immortality', as the place of the same name is the 'abode of immortality'. There stops, in both cases, the power of the 'Angel of Death'. It is like a kind of egg or embryo of the Immortal; [18] it can also be compared to the chrysalis from which the butterfly emerges, [19] a parallel that exactly conveys its role in relation to the resurrection.
The luz is conventionally sited towards the base of the spinal column. This might seem odd, but is clarified by reference to what the Hindu tradition says about the power called Kundalini, [20] which is a form of Shakti, considered to be immanent in the human being. [21] This power is represented by a coiled-up snake, in a part of the subtle body corresponding precisely with the base of the spinal column. At least this is how it is in ordinary man, but by means of techniques such as those of hatha-yoga, she is aroused, moves, and rises through
${22}$ This is the Brahma-randhra, orifice of Brahma, point of contact of the sushumna or 'coronal artery' with the 'solar ray'; this symbolism is discussed in detail in Man and his Becoming according to Vedanta.
${23}$ All this has a very close connection with the true significance of the well-known hermetic saying: 'Visita inferiora terrae, rectificando invenies occultum lapidem, veram medicinam', which gives by acrostic the word Vitriolum. The 'philosophers stone' is at the same time, under another aspect, the 'true medicine', i.e. the 'elixir of long life', which is nothing other than the 'drink of immortality'. Interiora is sometimes written instead of inferiora, but this does not alter the general meaning, and there always remains the same manifest allusion to the 'underground world'.
the wheels (chakras) or lotuses (kamalas) which correspond to the various plexuses, to reach the region of the 'third eye', the frontal eye of Shiva. This stage represents the restoration of the primordial state, where man recovers his 'sense of eternity' and through that attains what we have elsewhere called 'virtual immortality'. Until this point we are still in the human state; in the next phase the Kundalini finally reaches the crown of the head, [22] and this stage represents the effective conquest of the higher states of being. What seems to come out of this comparison is that the given position of the luz in the lower part of the body only refers to its state in 'fallen man', and for earthly humanity considered as a whole, it compares to the location of the supreme spiritual centre in the 'underground world'. [23]