THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE-

Please join us Saturday February 14th at the Pyle Adult Recreation Center in Tempe, 655 E Southern Ave, Tempe, AZ 85282. You will find us in the Conference Room from 1 pm to 3 pm
We will continue our discussion of Fragment II on The Voice of the Silence by H.P. Blavatsky, Lesson 3

REVIEW QUESTIONS:
1. What happens to those souls without a star to guide them?
2. What name is given to the “fiery power,” the “heaven-born,” and the “world-mother”?
3. Name some of the things a candidate must do before he may begin treading the Path.
4. What is one of the great stumbling blocks to union with the Self?

VOICE:
36. Behold the Hosts of Souls. Watch how they hover o’er the
stormy sea of human life, and how exhausted, bleeding,
broken-winged, they drop one after another on the
swelling waves. Tossed by the fierce winds, chased by the
gale, they drift into the eddies and disappear within the first great vortex.
The imagery of swelling waves and fierce winds suggests life on the astral and
physical planes, where the greater part of humanity exists without a pattern of life to follow, or a star by which to steer its course. The difficulty is an overly deep engrossment in the lower self, this being the cause of the world’s misery. Here is a footnote from Letter 68 of The Mahatma Letters regarding Mara and the host of souls.
“This Mara, as you may well think, is the allegorical image of the sphere called the ‘Planet of Death’—the whirlpool whither disappear the lives doomed to destruction” (fn. p. 195). HPB says: “These are the useless drones who will perish by the millions during the fifth round.” This means the closing of the door to further progress in this Manvantara. The Theosophical Glossary describes a Manvantara as “a period of
manifestation, as opposed to Pralaya (dissolution, or rest), applied to various cycles, especially to a Day of Brahma, 4,320,000,000 Solar years.”
VOICE:
37. If through the Hall of Wisdom, thou would’st reach the
Vale of Bliss, Disciple, close fast thy senses against the
great dire heresy of separateness that weans thee from the
rest.
True benefit may only be experienced once we have reached the third spiritual stage, the place of serenity—the “Vale of Bliss.” This serenity is the goal of bliss to which The Voice of the Silence is directing the candidate; he or she is told that it can be reached by first passing through the Hall of Wisdom. The heresy of separateness means that we cannot progress on the Path without the spirit of brotherhood and of
cooperation; without the opportunity to pass through this planet, this school of learning, where other men and women together with our own actions create circumstances to test us, we would never graduate to higher planes.

VOICE:
38. Let not thy “Heaven-born,” merged in the sea of Maya, break from the Universal Parent (SOUL), but let the fiery power retire into the inmost chamber, the chamber of the Heart and the abode of the World’s Mother.
It would be wise not to use our Heaven-born force of the Logos for selfish
purposes. A footnote in The Voice says the fiery power is Kundalini, which also means “world mother,” one of the mystic Yogic powers, and that it is Buddhi which is considered as an electro-spiritual force, a creative power which when aroused into action can as easily kill as it can create. In the seventeenth-century book Le Comte de Gabalis, we are told that it is possible for the saints to have attained union with God
through their devotion and prayer motivated by a constant desire and aspiration to come closer to God’s law. This dedication and constancy liberated a spiritual force in these men and women—a living flame that acted through the Divine in man, with or without the conscious effort of the finite mind. We can thus in safety set free this great power of Kundalini once we are united with the higher Self. But to try to
tamper with the power of Kundalini before one is ready is to court disaster.
VOICE:
39. Then from the heart that Power shall rise into the sixth,
the middle region, the place between thine eyes, when it
becomes the breath of the ONE-SOUL, the voice which
filleth all, thy Master’s voice.
Only when the Guru finds that the chela is ready for serious development will advice for arousing Kundalini be given under direct supervision; otherwise it can be a very dangerous procedure, having a serious and disruptive effect on the psychic nature. Kundalini rises through the various force-centers known as the chakras until it reaches the center between the eyebrows, when the chela is blessed with Divine power. The fourth chakra is centered in the heart. The raising of the fire is referred to as being “Christed” when the Kundalini has been brought into action. This is a state of spiritual power also called the “Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost” in the Christian system. It has been said that the symbol of the human being is a tree; imagine then
this tree as being suddenly lit up by seven colored lights. This is the deeper meaning of our Christmas tree: the chakras are the lights and the star crowning the topmost peak is the Star of Initiation, the coming into a state of great spiritual power. The Secret Doctrine tells us that, once having arrived at this advanced state, we must go still further, and must part from the six principles in order to center ourselves entirely in the seventh.

VOICE:
40. ‘Šis only then thou canst become a “Walker of the Sky” who treads the winds above the waves, whose step touches not the waters.
In the glossary of The Voice, Blavatsky tells us that Kechara (“sky-walker” or “goer”) is a Yogi who has become as one formed of the wind, as “a cloud from which limbs have sprouted out” after which he comprehends the meaning of the Cosmos and its workings. The phrase, “whose step touches not the waters,” refers to one who can travel in the astral body, symbolized by the ever-changing waters. At this stage,
the Yogi is delivered from all the physical ills of life, from the galling power of fate, the reckless caprice of fortune, and the gloom of death. As we learned earlier, the Yogi bestrides Hamsa, the swan, out of time and space.
VOICE:
41. Before thou set’st thy foot upon the ladder’s upper rung, the ladder of the mystic sounds, thou hast to hear the voice of thy inner GOD* in seven manners.
Before a candidate may begin to function at this high level, he must raise his consciousness to the seventh Principle, so that it begins to move on the Atmic or Nirvanic Plane, and there prepare for the fifth initiation, that of the Adept. The mystic sounds may be translated as the sounds heard in the mysterious Voice of the Silence, the voice of pure conscience; these sounds cannot be heard with the physical
ear, for they are secretly giving guidance from the spiritual plane.
Let us go still further in trying to understand the meaning of “the ladder of mystic sounds.” These sounds are also called “steps” or “stages,” by which the pilgrim slowly mounts this mystic ladder, gradually disengaging from the clutches of the ever demanding personality (the lower self), which is a vehicle attuned to the outer world of sensation.
This lower vehicle, if properly directed, can be used when under control by the higher Self. Krishnamurti, in his little book At the Feet of the Master, speaks of the body as the animal upon which we ride, and that it must be cared for, kept clean and
fed, but not pampered, for selfish desires and cravings are but trappings to be dispensed with, once the great return journey is begun. Purity of motive demands that we travel lightly and learn to develop the power of non-attachment.
* The Higher Self

VOICE:
42. The first is like the nightingale’s sweet voice chanting a
song of parting to its mate.
43. The second comes as the sound of a silver cymbal of the
Dhy¬nÎs, awakening the twinkling stars.
44. The next is as the plaint melodious of the ocean-sprite
imprisoned in its shell.
45. And this is followed by the chant of Vina.
46. The fifth like sound of bamboo-flute shrills in thine ear.
47. It changes next into a trumpet-blast.
48. The last vibrates like the dull rumbling of a thunder-
cloud.
49. The seventh swallows all the other sounds. They die, and
then are heard no more.
The student may obtain a little more information as to the full esoteric meaning of these steps or stages through further research in The Secret Doctrine by Helena P. Blavatsky and First Principles of Theosophy by C. Jinarajadasa. It is said that these sounds heard by the soul could be likened to the “music of the spheres,” the sound of the “whirling orbs in space.” The occultist believes that the twelve signs of the Zodiac and the seven planets form a sounding board and strings of “Apollo’s seven-
stringed lyre.” Evidently the mystic enters into a rhythmic vibration as the Heaven-World is entered, and it is then that the sounds of the Inner World are heard. This, I believe, is referred to as “the Awakening.”
And in reference to “the ocean sprite imprisoned in its shell,” perhaps Oliver Wendell Holmes has helped to explain this concept in his poem “The Chambered Nautilus.” He tells how the nautilus exemplifies progress in the evolutionary plan as it constantly builds section after section—each larger than the one before—in a spiral shell, until at last it emerges into the open, having found its freedom. The word “ocean” refers to the primordial ocean of space, Akasha (water) being the third
principle in the material cosmos on which Narayana, the self-born spirit moves. The Dhyanis are called the Seven Sons of Light, stars that watch over the Seven Sacred Planets of the Earth-Chain. In Geoffrey Barborka’s book The Divine Plan, the author comments: “Just as . . . one Dhyani having particular surveillance over one globe and likewise over one Race0in similar manner the Dhyanis of the Seven Sacred Planets
act as ‘primaries’ over the seven principles of man, one Planetary Dhyani for each principle”(p 247). The Vina represents the astral plane. In reference to the sentence, “The seventh swallows all the rest,” we have already learned that the six must be finally merged into the One. The number seven is used constantly, for we are living in a sevenfold world, and to arrive at perfection, we have to conquer, or refine, the
intermediate planes, steps up which we must mount, to reach the more spiritual ones. To further expand on this number seven, let us recall the seven stages of human development. The teeth of a child appear in the seventh month; they are shed at 7 years; at twice 7 puberty begins; at three times 7 the mental and vital powers are developed; at four times 7 full strength has developed; at five times 7 the desires are
most developed. The Secret Doctrine contains the answers, but whether or not they are understood depends upon our spiritual development.

VOICE:
50. When the six are slain and at the Master’s feet are laid, then is the pupil merged into the ONE, becomes that ONE and lives therein.
Once the chela has subdued the senses and obtained control over the lower vehicles through the power of spiritual will, then he or she is ready for service. The chela will then be useful to those who are in charge of the Great Evolutionary Plan. The spark (the Atma) will have become as one with the Flame (the Paramatma).

VOICE:
51. Before that path is entered, thou must destroy thy lunar
body, cleanse thy mind-body and make clean thy heart.
The “lunar body” is the astral form, the body of desire, which is part of the temporal man and not the companion of the immortal Self. Once nothing of earth’s pleasures can tempt him, then only may the union of mind, the higher mind, and spirit take place. J. C. Street, the author of The Hidden Way Across the Threshold writes:
Who elevates himself, isolates himself. Any man who is brave enough to step aside from all conventionalities of the time and age, and, if need be, to sever ties of former friendships and companionship—confessing that he desires to be free from darkness of the past and to have some infallible guide in matters of Spirit, Soul, and Truth in the subjective world, if he can devote time, patience, and silent meditation to the work, will find a new world, a height of comprehension and newness of life of which he never dreamed (p. 249).

VOICE:
52. Eternal life’s pure waters, clear and crystal, with the
monsoon tempest’s muddy torrents cannot mingle.
Life’s pure waters are likened to a hidden sacred spring, which, once tasted, causes those who find it to thirst no more.

VOICE:
53. Heaven’s dew-drop glittering in the morn’s first sun-beam within the bosom of the lotus, when dropped on earth becomes a piece of clay; behold, the pearl is now a speck of mire.
For countless centuries in the East, the lotus has been regarded as a symbol of spiritual consciousness. This sacred flower has its roots deep in the mud of earth (the physical world); its stem rises up through the muddy water (analogous to the emotional-desire nature), where the blossom, the end product of growth, then opens to the rays of the sun, symbolizing the spiritual Self giving forth its perfume, which is a symbol of radiant service of the disciple in the three worlds. We, as we struggle
ever upward, are endeavoring to shake off the thick coating of clay. “Heaven’s dewdrop” is pure spirit, or pure consciousness, before it has become involved in the things of earth. Dew has been mentioned in Sanskrit as DYU, meaning “brilliant”—a “drop from Heaven” or “sap of the Supreme Spirit.” It is interesting to note that the word dew is Cornish for God, and that the French word for God is Dieu.

VOICE:
54. Strive with thy thoughts unclean before they overpower thee. Use them as they will thee, for if thou sparest them and they take root and grow, know well, these thoughts will overpower and kill thee. Beware, Disciple, suffer not, e’en though it be their shadow, to approach. For it will grow, increase in size and power, and then this thing of darkness will absorb thy being before thou hast well realized the black foul monster’s presence.
The language here is quite dramatic, but that is necessary sometimes to make a point. Let us read what C. W. Leadbeater, in The Chakras, has to say on the subject.
Thought flies like lightning through the subtle matter of the mental plane, so the thought of the whole world on a certain subject may easily gather in one spot, and yet be accessible and attractive to every thinker on that subject. Astral matter, though so far finer than physical, is yet denser than that of the mental plane; the great clouds of “emotion-forms” which are generated in the astral world by strong feelings do not all fly to the one-world-center, but they do coalesce with other forms of the same nature in their own neighborhood, so
that enormous and very powerful “blocks” of feelings are floating about almost everywhere, and a man may readily come into contact with them and be influenced by them. And so this would, I believe, refer to the black, “foul monster’s presence.”

VOICE:
55. Before the “mystic Power” can make of thee a god, Lanoo, thou must have gained the faculty to slay thy lunar form at will.
Author Roy Mitchell, in Through Temple Doors, says One of these forces, we have seen, is that serpent-force, as it is called, that in all
esoteric schools is depicted as rising out of the earth, passing through the legs into the body and lying coiled around the epigastric plexus, etc. Pythagoras says of the Babylonian Magi (Ma’ji), that they called the magnetic currents of the earth serpents, and that they possessed the power to direct them. The incorporeal fire of the inner man they called the Celestial Lion. These two, the ascending Serpent and the descending Lion, they said generated by their meeting the farces that freed the candidate. Also, in the book Le Comte de Gabalis we note that the lion represents the lower side of human nature, that throughout antiquity this symbol represented nature and the ungoverned passions of humanity; so the king of the beasts, the lion, must be conquered before spiritual development is possible. Thus the first labor of the Greek Hercules (a Savior) was to slay the lion, which symbolized his lower nature.

VOICE:
56. The Self of matter and the SELF of Spirit can never meet. One of the twain must disappear; there is no place for both.
The aspirant wishing to attain must choose between the life of the world and that of the Spirit. It is useless and vain to endeavor to unite the two, for there is no room for both. Once the chela knows which path he wishes to take, he must then proceed with a firm step. Consider this bit of advice left by those who have preceded us: When we think we are progressing, we may be at a standstill, and when we think we are not progressing, we may be making wonderful strides ahead:

***

Come hither, you that walk along the way;
See how the pilgrims fare that go astray:
They catched are in an entangling net,
‘Cause they good counsel lightly did forget:
‘Tis true they rescued were, but yet you see,
They’re scourged to boot. Let this your caution be.
—John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress

For a free copy, click here Voice of the Silence

Study Guide for The Voice of the Silence
WITH the writing of her masterworks completed, H. P. Blavatsky turned her attention more particularly to the needs of those who were seriously desirous of serving the cause of human betterment. The result was The Voice of the Silence, a spiritual classic of incomparable beauty and power. Translating from memory some of the ancient maxims from the Book of the Golden Precepts—itself drawn from the same archaic source as the Stanzas of Dzyan on which The Secret Doctrine is based—the author clarifies the essential difference between the two paths of spiritual attainment: the one pursued by those seeking truth for their own enlightenment; the other followed by those of every age and land whose sole aspiration for self-knowledge is prompted by compassionate concern for the well-being of all mankind. THEOSOPHICAL UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Stacia Brown, Treasurer of The Theosophical Society in Phoenix
Feel free to call or text with any questions that you may have, 810.285.6346
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