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On Occultism IT has been
often said and it is very true that as soon as you enter the domain of the
invisible, the very first things you meet are literally frightful. If you have
no fear, then alone you are safe; but the least fear means the utmost peril. It
is for this reason that in ancient days the aspirant had to pass through a
severe discipline for a long time precisely with the object of getting rid of
fear and therefore of all possibility of danger before he was permitted to
start on the way. That is why till now I have not spoken to you of it. But if any of you feel you have a disposition for such things, or some special aptitude in this direction and are ready to surmount all weaknesses, well, I am at your disposal, ready to help you and initiate you into the mysteries. But I am afraid you have still to grow a little more, become more mature before I can take up the charge. Of
course, age is really no bar. I was doing occultism when I was twelve years old.
But I must tell you I had no fear, I had fear of nothing. Here you come out of
the body, you are connected with the body by the very
tiniest, almost imperceptible, bit of thread, as it were. If the thread snaps,
there is an end of it all, the end of your life. So you come out into another
world and begin to look about and see what kind of world it is. Generally, the
first things you see, as I said, are absolutely terrifying. In your normal
view, the air about you is empty; there is nothing – you see the blue of the
sky or the white cloud or the sunshine and everything is beautiful. But when
you have the other sight, the picture is quite different. You see that the
whole atmosphere is filled with a multitude of small formations, which are the
remains of desires and mental deformations and they crowd about you in such a
way that
Page – 354 the whole thing gives you a very disagreeable impression.
Indeed, it is positively ugly more often than not. They come near you, attack
you, press upon you and you fear and tremble. Then they assume formidable
proportions. But if you are not shaken, if you can look with the eye of a calm curiosity,
you will find then there is nothing so very terrifying. Things are not
beautiful perhaps, but they are not frightful either. I
shall tell you a story to illustrate my point. I knew a Dane who was a painter,
a painter of some talent.' He was interested in occultism. Some of you might
have heard of him. He had come here and met Sri Aurobindo. He did a portrait
too of Sri Aurobindo. It was the first Great War. He returned to What
did the tiger represent? I told the painter that perhaps in the course of the
day or at some time he was angry with some one and indulged in violent
thoughts, wishing him harm, etc. Now as in the physical world, so too in the
occult world there is a law of action and reaction or return movement. You
cherish a bad thought; it returns upon you as an attack from outside. So the
tiger might have represented some bad thought or impulse in him which came back
upon him, like, as it is said, a boomerang. It is exactly one of the reasons
why one should have control over one's thoughts and feelings and sensations.
For if you think ill of a person, wish unpleasant things for him, then in your dream you are likely to see the person
Page – 355 coming to attack you, more violently perhaps than you
thought of doing. In your ignorance and impulse of self-justification you say,
"Just see, was I not right in my feeling towards this man, he wanted to
kill me!" In point of fact, however, the contrary is the truth. It is a
common law in occultism that if you make a formation – a mental formation, for
example, to the effect that an accident or some unpleasant thing should happen to
a person and you send out the formation to do its work, then, if it so happens
that the person concerned is on a higher level of consciousness, that is to
say, if he wishes harm to none, is quite disinterested and indifferent in the
matter, then the formation approaches him but does not enter into his
atmosphere or touch him, it rebounds upon the sender. In that case a serious
accident may happen to the sender of the formation: if one wishes death to
another, death may come to himself. That is often the result of black magic
which is a de-formation of occultism. Formations are of many kinds. A formation is made for a particular work. When the work is done, the formation too dissolves. But it is a huge and complex subject. You cannot learn the whole of chemistry in one hour. I shall tell you another story in this connection, for it has an occult bearing. There
was a very well-known scientist in
Page – 356 He knew
very well that nothing could happen to him, the barrier was sound and secure
and yet each time the snake darted at him, he leaped back to avoid the blow as
it were. The thing repeated itself continually and however much he repeated to
himself all the reasons of his safety and security, the reflex gesture could
not be controlled. Only
the scientist did not know one thing – an element of occult knowledge escaped
him. The physical movement of the serpent was accompanied by a considerable
amount of a vital projection of its nervous energy. It was that which struck
him with an irresistible force. It was almost like a violent physical shock and
mere reason has no power to control it. To check and control, you must learn
the occult way.
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