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WE MUST NOW RETURN TO the examination of what happens to the being who, not being 'delivered' at the precise moment of death, has to pass through a series of degrees, represented symbolically as the stages of a journey and forming so many intermediate but not conclusive states which it is necessary to traverse before reaching the final goal. It should be remarked, moreover, that all these states, being still relative and conditioned, have no common measure with that state which alone is absolute and unconditioned; therefore, no matter how exalted certain of them may be when compared with the bodily state, it would still seem that by obtaining them the being is no nearer to its final objective, which is 'Deliverance'; and the whole of manifestation being strictly nil in comparison with the Infinite, it is evident that the differences between the states which go to make up manifestation must likewise be nil in Its presence, however considerable they may be in themselves; this holds good so long as the various conditioned states, which those differences separate one from another, are alone taken into account. However, it is nonetheless true that the passage to certain higher states constitutes as it were an advance toward ‘Deliverance'; but in that case it is gradual (_krama-mukti_), and may be compared to the use of certain appropriate means, such as those of _Hatha-Yoga_, which are effective as a preparation, although there is certainly no possible comparison between these contingent means and the 'Union' which it is intended to realize by using them as 'supports'.^[1] But it must he clearly understood that ‘Deliverance' when realized, will always imply a discontinuity in relation to the state in which the being who obtains it finds himself and that, no matter what that state may be, this discontinuity will be of exactly the same order, since in all cases, between the state of the 'undelivered' and that of the ‘delivered' being, there is no relationship such as exists between different conditioned states. The same is true even for states which are so far superior to the human state that, looked upon from the point of view of the latter, they might be taken for the goal toward which the being must ultimately tend; and this illusion is possible even with regard to states which are actually only modalities of the human state, although widely separated in every respect from the corporeal modality. It has seemed advisable to draw attention to this point in order to prevent any misunderstanding or erroneous interpretation, before continuing our exposition of the posthumous modifications which the human being can undergo.

The 'living soul' [jīvātmā], with the vital faculties reabsorbed into it [and remaining there as possibilities, as has already been explained], having withdrawn into its own dwelling place [the center of the individuality, described symbolically as the heart, as we saw at the beginning, wherein it dwells by reason of its being, in essence and independently of its conditions of manifestation, really identical with Purusha, from which it is separated only in an illusory manner], the apex [that is to say the most elevated portion] of this subtle organ [pictured as an eight-petalled lotus] shines^[2] and illuminates the passage through which the soul must pass [to attain the various states about to be described], namely, the crown of the head, if the individual is a Sage [vidvān], and another region of the organism [corresponding physiologically to the solar plexus]^[3] if he is ignorant [avidvān].^[4] A hundred and one arteries [_nādīs_, likewise subtle and luminous]^[5] issue from the vital center [as the spokes of a wheel issue from its hub], and one of these [subtle] arteries passes through the crown of the head [the region considered to correspond to the higher states of the being insofar as their possibilities of communication with the human individual are concerned, as was seen in the description of the members of Vaishvānara] ; it is called _sushumnā_.^[6] Besides this _nādī_, which occupies a central position, there are two others which play a particularly important part (notably as regards the correspondence in the subtle order with respiration, and consequently in the practices of _Hatha-Yoga_): the one, situated on its right, is called _pingalā_: the other, on its left, is called _idā_. It is said furthermore that _pingalā_ corresponds to the sun and _idā_ to the moon; now we have seen above that the sun and the moon are described as the two eyes of _Vaishvānara_; these then are related respectively to the two _nādīs_ in question, while _sushumnā_, being in the center, is related to the 'third eye', that is to say to the frontal eye of _Shiva_;^[7] but we can only point out these connections in passing, since they lie outside our present subject.

By this passage [sushumnā and the crown of the head where it finishes], as a result of knowledge acquired and of consciousness of the meditated path [consciousness belonging essentially to an extra-temporal order, since, even when viewed in the human state, it is a reflection of higher states],^[8] the soul of the Sage, endowed [by virtue of the psychical regeneration which has made of him a man twice born, _dvija_]^[9] with the spiritual Grace [Prasāda] of _Brahma_, which resides in this vital center [relatively to the human individual concerned], escapes [frees itself of every link with the bodily condition which may still exist] and enters a solar ray [that is to say, symbolically, an emanation from the spiritual Sun, which is Brahma Itself, this time considered universally: this solar ray is nothing else than a particularization, relatively to the being in question, or, if it be preferred, a 'polarization' of the supra-individual principle Buddhi or Mahat, by which the multiple manifested states of the being are linked to one another and placed in communication with Ātmā, the transcendent Personality, which is identical with the spiritual Sun itself]; it is along this route [described as the path of the 'solar ray'], that it travels by night or by day, in winter or in summer.^[10] The contact of a ray of the [spiritual] Sun with the _sushumnā_ is constant, so long as the body lasts [as a living organism and vehicle of the manifested being] : the rays of the [intelligible] Light, emitted from this Sun,^[11] reach this [subtle] artery, and, reciprocally [in reflected mode], extend from the artery to the Sun [as an indefinite prolongation by means of which communication, either virtual or effective, is established between the individuality and the Universal].^[12]

Everything that has just been said is completely independent of temporal circumstances and of all other similar contingencies which accompany death; that is not to say, however, that these circumstances are always devoid of any influence upon the posthumous condition of the being, but they have only to be considered in certain cases, which moreover we can but indicate here without further development.

The preference for summer, as an example of which the case of Bhīshma is cited, who waited for the return of this favorable season for his death, does not concern the Sage who, in the contemplation of Brahma, has accomplished the rites [relative to 'incantation']^[13] as prescribed by the Veda, and who has consequently acquired [at least virtually] the perfection of Divine Knowledge; ^[14] but it concerns those who have followed the observances taught by the Sankhya or the Yoga-Shāstra in accordance with which the time of day and the season of the year are not matters of indifference, but have [for the liberation of the being leaving the bodily state after a preparation carried out in conformity, with the methods referred to] an effective action as elements inherent to the rite [in which they intervene as conditions upon which the effects to be obtained depend].^[15]

It goes without saying that, in the latter case, the restriction referred to only applies to beings that have stopped short at the attainment of degrees of realization corresponding to extensions of the human individuality; for one that has effectively transcended the limits of individuality, the nature of the means employed at the starting-point of realization could have no influence of any kind on its subsequent condition.

realization that extends far beyond them; and the disproportion between the means and the end corresponds to no more than the disproportion that exists between the individual state, taken as the basis for that realization, and the unconditioned state that is its term.^[1]

We cannot develop here a general theory concerning the efficacy of rites; we will confine ourselves to saying, by way of indicating the essential principle, that everything that is contingent insofar as it is a manifestation (except if it be a question of purely negative determinations) ceases to be so when viewed as a permanent and immutable possibility; everything that enjoys a positive existence must therefore be rediscovered in the Unmanifest, and it is this which allows of a transposition of the individual into the Universal, by the suppression of the limiting (therefore negative) conditions which are inherent to all manifestation.

Footnotes

[1]An analogy might be drawn between what we have said here and what could be said in like manner from the point of view of Catholic theology concerning the sacraments: in the latter also, the outward forms are properly speaking ‘supports', and these eminently contingent means produce a result which is of quite a different order from their own. It is by reason of his very nature and of the conditions governing it that the human individual requires such ‘supports' as a starting-point for a

[1]The main text preceding footnote 2 is assumed to be the continuation of a previous discussion. Since no marker 1 is visible in the provided text, the first paragraph is treated as the continuation of the main body.

[2]Clearly, this is another of those words which must be understood symbolically, since there is no question here of sensible fire, but rather of a modification of the intelligible Light.

[3]The nerve plexuses, or, to be more exact, their counterparts in the subtle form (so long as the latter is linked to the bodily form), are symbolically described as ‘wheels' (_chakras_) or again as 'lotuses' (_padmas_ or _kamalas_). As for the crown of the head, it plays an important part also in the Islamic traditions concerning the posthumous conditions of the human being; and it would doubtless be possible to find elsewhere practices depending on considerations of a similar order (the ton-sure of Catholic priests for example), although in some cases the deeper reasons may have been forgotten.

[4]_Brihadaranyaka Upanishad_ IV. 4. 1–2.

[5]We would remind the reader that here we are not concerned with the bodily arteries of the blood stream, any more than with passages containing the air that we breathe; it is moreover quite obvious that, in the corporeal order, there cannot be any duct passing through the crown of the head, since no opening exists in that region of the organism. On the other hand, it should be observed that although the previous withdrawal of _jīvātmā_ implies that the bodily form has already been abandoned, all relation between this and the subtle form has not yet been broken off in the phase we are now examining, since in describing the latter it is still possible to speak of the various subtle organs according to the correspondence which held good during physiological life.

[6]_Katha Upanishad_ II.6.16.

[7]In the aspect of this symbolism which refers to the temporal condition, the sun and the right eye correspond to the future, the moon and the left eye to the past; the frontal eye corresponds to the present which, from the point of view of the manifested, is but an imperceptible moment, comparable to the geometrical point without dimensions in the spatial order; that is why a single look from this third eye destroys all manifestation (which is expressed symbolically by saying that it reduces everything to ashes), and that is also why it is not represented by any bodily organ; but when one rises above this contingent point of view, the present is seen to contain all reality (just as the point carries within itself all the possibilities of space), and when succession is transmuted into simultaneity, all things abide in the 'eternal present', so that the apparent destruction is truly a 'transformation'. This symbolism is identical with that of _Janus Bifrons_ of the Romans, who had two faces, the one turned toward the past and the other toward the future, but whose real face, the one that gazes on the present, is neither of the two that can be seen. It should also be pointed out that the principal _nādīs_, by virtue of the same correspondence we have just mentioned, have a special connection with what might be called, in Western language, 'human alchemy', wherein the organism is represented as the Hermetic _athanor_; this science, apart from the different terminology employed, closely resembles _Hatha-Yoga_.

[8]Therefore it is a grave error to speak here of ‘remembrance' as Colebrooke has done in the essays we mentioned previously; memory, which is conditioned by time in the strictest sense of the word, is a faculty related to corporeal existence alone, and does not extend beyond the limits of this particular and restricted modality of human individuality; it is therefore numbered among those psychic elements we mentioned above, which are dissociated as a direct consequence of bodily death.

[9]The conception of a ‘second birth', as we have already pointed out elsewhere, is one of those which are common to all traditional doctrines; in Christianity, in particular, psychic regeneration is very clearly represented by baptism. Cf. this passage from the Gospel: ‘... unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.....Truly, truly, I say unto you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.... Do not marvel that I said to you, "You must he born anew.”” (John 3:3–7). Water is looked upon by many traditions as the original medium of beings, by reason of its symbolism, as we explained earlier on, according to which it stands for _Mūla-Prakriti_; in a higher sense, by transposition, water is Universal Possibility itself; whoever is 'born of water' becomes a 'son of the Virgin', and therefore an adopted brother of Christ and His co-heir of the 'Kingdom of God'. On the other hand if one realizes that the 'spirit' in the text just quoted is the Hebrew _Ruahh_ (here associated with water as a complementary principle, as in the opening passage of Genesis) and if it be remembered that _Ruahh_ also denotes air, we have the idea of purification by the elements, such as is to be met with in all initiatic as well as religious rites; and moreover, initiation itself is always looked upon as a 'second birth', symbolically as long as it only amounts to a more or less external formality, but effectively when it is conferred in a genuine manner on one duly qualified to receive it.

[10]_Chhāndogya Upanishad_ VIII.6.5.

[11]This, apart from any other consideration, should be sufficient to show that there is no question here of a ray of the sun in the physical sense (for in that case uninterrupted contact would obviously be impossible) and that the reference can only be to the sun in a symbolical sense. The ray which is connected with the coronal artery is also called _sushumnā_.

[12]_Chhāndogya Upanishad_ VIII.6.2.

[13]The word 'incantation' as used here must be understood as referring essentially to an aspiration of the being toward the Universal with the object of obtaining an inward illumination, whatever may be the outward means, such as gestures (_mudrās_), words or musical sounds (_mantras_), symbolic figures (_yantras_) and so on, that can be employed as accessory supports of the inward act, and which have as their effect the production of rhythmic vibrations causing a repercussion throughout the indefinite series of states of the being. Such ‘incantation' has nothing whatever to do with the magical practices to which the same name is sometimes attached in the West, nor with a religious act such as prayer; all the methods in question are related exclusively to the realm of metaphysical realization.

[14]We say 'virtually' because if this perfection were effective, ‘Deliverance' would by that very fact already have been obtained. Knowledge can be theoretically perfect, even though the corresponding realization has as yet only been partially accomplished.

[15]_Brahma-Sūtras_ IV.2.17-21.

THE CORONAL ARTERY AND THE 'SOLAR RAY'

Footnotes