IN the last three numbers of the PATH we have given
a story by the German Mystic Kernning of the experiences of a sensitive.
The story is called advisedly "From Sensitive to Initiate." We
did not think that it was intended to show what the final initiation is,
but only one of the many initiations we have to undergo in our passage through
matter. The trials of Caroline illustrate those we all have, whether we
know them as such or not. She had a presence to annoy her; we, although
not sensitive as she was, have within us influences and potential presences
that affect us just as much; they cause us to have bias this way or that,
to be at times clouded in our estimate of what is the true course or the
true view to take, and, like her, so long as we do not recognise the cause
of the clouds, we will be unable to dissipate them. But Kernning was a theosophist,
and one of those men who knew the truth in theory and at the same time were
able to make a practical application of what they knew. There are many cases
today in which sensitive people do just what Caroline did and have "presences"
to annoy them; but how many of our theosophists or spiritualists would be
able to cast the supposed obsesser out, as Mohrland did in the story? They
can be counted on one hand. The simplicity with which Kernning wrote should
not blind us to the value of his work. In the preceding articles by him
which we have from time to time given, there is much to be learned by those
who look below the surface. We therefore add the following as a note to
the last story in order to try to show its theosophic meaning.
The conversation about "Mantrams" between the Sage and the Student
in the PATH for August involves an occult truth so important that it is
worth while to recall that the power of mantrams is recognized by the school
of German occultists represented by Kernning. Readers of the PATH who have
attentively read "Some Teachings of a German Mystic" have observed
that in nearly all instances the pupils achieve' an awakening of their inner
self, or the "spiritual rebirth," by means of a particular word,
a sentence, or perhaps even a letter of the alphabet, and that, in cases
where persons are involuntarily awakened, it is by continued thinking upon
some object or person, as in the case of the young sailor whose mind was
continually dwelling on his absent sweetheart and was thereby released from
the limitations of his own personality. Caroline Ruppert was aroused by
a morbid dwelling on her disappointment in love and by remorse for her conduct
towards her invalid mother, until these thoughts gained a mantric power
over her, and it required intelligent exercise with other man-trains, given
her by the Adept Mohrland, to restore her self-control and give her a symmetrical
development. Out of a medium, or mere sensitive, she thus became an initiate,
able to control the psychic forces by her own will. Every hapless "medium"
who is obsessed by elementals and elementaries that make life a torment
and who is compelled to do the bidding of these forces generated by personal
vitality, and whose conflict obscures the true self-like a spring whose
waters, finding no adequate channel, rise to the level of their source and
thus drown it-, has it in his or her power, by intelligent exercise of the
will, to obtain command over what they are now obliged to obey. But, in
doing this, "right motive" must be kept constantly in view; care
must be exercised to keep absolutely free from all mercenary or other selfish
considerations, else one will become a black magician. The condition known
as "mediumship" has been the subject of too much indiscriminate
condemnation; it can be made a blessing as well as a curse, and the aim
should be, not to suppress it, but to develop it in the right direction.
The psychic powers, like all other natural forces, can be made either a
good servant or a terrible master, and, in proportion to their subtlety
as compared with other forces, so much greater is their power
for good or for evil.
In psychic work the power of united endeavor has often been emphasized,
and it is easy to see that the power is developed whether consciously or
unconsciously exercised. Thus, with thousands thinking unitedly in one direction,
as in the present Theosophical awakening, they all help each other, lending
strength to each other's will, whether they are aware of it or not. According
to this principle it would seem that a word used commonly for mantric purposes
has a greater potency over the forces of the spirit, owing to the impression
it has made upon the akasa, than a word not commonly used, for in
the case of the former the user has the aid of the wills of all others who
have used it.
In one of his works, "The Freemason," Kernning gives a good explanation
of the power of mantrams, in replying to the strictures of a rationalistic
critic, who says that such a use of words is made by the bonzes (yogis)
of India, and therefore must be wholly nonsensical! Says Kernning:
Whoever has a great love for an art or science not only finds delight
in the results, but their very names have a sort of magic power with him.
Whoever feels a love for another person is moved whenever he thinks of
that person or repeats the name of that person. The gambler, in spite of
all the arguments against his infatuation made by others, and often, indeed,
by himself, always beholds dice and cards before his eyes. The drunkard
only needs, in order to be made thirsty, to hear the name of wine. The
miser lives in the vision of his ducats and dollars, the ambitious man
upon the insignia of fame and the plaudits of the multitude, the courtier
upon his orders and titles, and in all these cases, not only are the things
themselves concerned, but the names have become idolized. Now suppose that
one should, instead of swimming in the depths, fill spirit and soul with
exalted and divine ideas and names, can other than most beneficent results
follow? Indeed, could a person be a genuine Christian without the life
of Christ, and even his name, becoming animate in spirit and soul? Therefore
there is no nonsensical or unreasonable practice in this; on the contrary,
every one should be made aware of this simple method, which is founded
upon human nature and is confirmed by experience, that he may attain the
means of ennobling his nature, of directing his energies towards the highest
end of his life, and reaching this end with certainty.
Path, October, 1888
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