PHILOSOPHY/THEOSOPHY S The remarkable essays in this volume were written for the expressed YMBOLS purpose of helping both the newcomer to spiritual thinking as well SYYMBOLSMBOLS OOFF THETHE as the skilled practitioner to see the everyday objects – from the wind and ships to deserts and lakes – and subjects – from dogs and ravens to dolphins and whales – that surround us as concrete embodiments ETTERNALERNAL DOOCTRINECTRINE and living symbols of the fundamental spiritual Essence from which everything has evolved. These universal symbols are not just accidental OF mental constructs but are living realities that not only point to spiritual dimensions far beyond themselves but profoundly embody spiritual THE Frromom Shhamballaamballa ttoo Paaradiseradise realities. Learning to see the world around us afresh in the light of its spiritual dimension reorients us to taking up again the age-old task of E treading the Path and aids us in activating our higher spiritual capacities which, when awakened, shed the pristine light of universal Theosophy TERNAL on the path of spiritual self-regeneration in the service of humanity. These 28 wide-ranging articles span a wide spectrum of human thought: from the Tetraktys to the Cross, from the Altar to the Mirror, from the Pentagram to the Dodecahedron, from the Dog to the Dwarf, from the Heart to the Fool; indeed, from Shamballa to Paradise. These essays D reveal the fundamental religious, philosophical, and scientifi c aspects to the most mundane and most refi ned realities of our common, everyday OCTRINE world. Both the serious refl ection upon and casual reading of these essays is a joyous expedition through the all-too-common truncated perceptions we have of our world to a higher level of awareness of the myriad ways in which the life of the universal Spirit is made manifest. Professor Helen Valborg taught anthropology in California for 30 years at Ventura College and Feather River College, and has been especially engaged in long-term cultural studies in Greece and India. Professor H Valborg’s interest in cultural symbolism has recently been focused ELEN on petroglyph studies in The Great Basin. Her articles have been By published in University of Nevada, Reno publications and HERMES. V ALBORG HEELENLEN VAALBORGLBORG CCOMPILEDOMPILED BBYY TTHEHE EEDITORIALDITORIAL BBOARDOARD OOFF Theosophy Trust T T TTHEOSOPHYHEOSOPHY TTRUSTRUST T T Books www.theosophytrust.org ʺEvery country has its Saviours. He who dissipates the darkness of ignorance by the help of the torch of science, thus disclosing to us the truth, deserves that title as a mark of our gratitude, quite as much as he who saves us from death by healing our bodies. Such a one awakens in our benumbed souls the faculty of distinguishing the true from the false, by kindling therein a divine flame hitherto absent, and he has the right to our grateful reverence, for he has become our creator. What matters the name of the symbol that personifies the abstract idea, if that idea is always the same and is true? Whether the concrete symbol bears one title or another, whether the Saviour in whom we believe has for an earthly name Krishna, Buddha, Jesus or Aesculapius ‐also called ʹSaviour‐Godʹ, we have but to remember one thing: symbols of divine truth were not invented for the amusement of the ignorant; they are the alpha and omega of philosophical thought.ʺ H.P. Blavatsky Theosophy Trust Books ▪ Theosophical Astrology by Helen Valborg, WQ Judge, HP Blavatsky, Raghavan Iyer ▪ The Bhagavad‐Gita and Notes on the Gita by WQ Judge, Robert Crosbie, Raghavan Iyer, HP Blavatsky ▪ Theosophy ~ The Wisdom Religion by the Editorial Board of Theosophy Trust ▪ Self‐Actualization and Spiritual Self‐Regeneration ▪ Mahatma Gandhi and Buddhaʹs Path to Enlightenment ▪ The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali ▪ Meditation and Self‐Study ▪ Wisdom in Action ▪ The Dawning of Wisdom by Raghavan Iyer ▪ The Secret Doctrine, Vols. I and II ▪ Isis Unveiled, Vols. I and II ▪ The Key to Theosophy ▪ The Voice of the Silence ▪ The Origins of Self‐Consciousness in The Secret Doctrine ▪ Evolution and Intelligent Design in The Secret Doctrine by H.P. Blavatsky ▪ The Ocean of Theosophy by William Q. Judge ▪ Teachers of the Eternal Doctrine by Elton Hall ▪ Symbols of the Eternal Doctrine by Helen Valborg SYMBOLS OF THE ETERNAL DOCTRINE BY HELEN VALBORG AND THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF THEOSOPHY TRUST THEOSOPHY TRUST BOOKS NORFOLK, VA Symbols of the Eternal Doctrine Copyright © 2007 by Theosophy Trust All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means ‐ graphic, electronic, or mechanical ‐ including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Theosophy Trust books may be ordered through Amazon.com, CreateSpace.com, and other retail outlets, or by visiting: http://www.theosophytrust.org/online_books.php ISBN‐13: 978‐0‐9793205‐1‐4 ISBN‐10: 0‐9793205‐1‐8 Printed in the United States of America Dedicated to Nandini R. Iyer Spititual Teacher, Thinker, and an Inspiration to All Who Have Had the Great Good Karma to Learn from Her KRISHNA: Men say that the Ashwattha, the eternal sacred tree, grows with its roots above and its branches below, and the leaves of which are the Vedas; he who knows this knows the Vedas. Its branches growing out of the three qualities with the objects of sense as the lesser shoots, spread forth, some above and some below; and those roots which ramify below in the regions of mankind are the connecting bonds of action. Its form is not thus understood by men; it has no beginning, nor can its present constitution be understood, nor has it any end. When one hath hewn down with the strong axe of dispassion this Ashwattha tree with its deeply imbedded roots, then that place is to be sought after from which those who there take refuge never more return to rebirth, for it is the Primeval Spirit from which floweth the never‐ending stream of conditioned existence. Those who are free from pride of self and whose discrimination is perfected, who have prevailed over the fault of attachment to action, who are constantly employed in devotion to meditation upon the Supreme Spirit, who have renounced desire and are free from the influence of the opposites known as pleasure and pain, are undeluded, and proceed to that place which endureth forever. Neither the sun nor the moon nor the fire enlighteneth that place; from it there is no return; it is my supreme abode. The Bhagavad‐Gita, Ch. XV INTRODUCTION Symbols are as old as thinking humanity. They are of such importance that H.P. Blavatsky, who first brought Theosophy to light in the modern world, devoted whole sections of her great work, The Secret Doctrine, to them. Part II of the first volume, dealing with cosmogenesis or the origin of the universe, consists of ʺThe Evolution of Symbolism in its Approximate Order,ʺ and Part II of the second volume on anthropogenesis or the Theosophical understanding of human evolution, is ʺThe Archaic Symbolism of the World‐Religions.ʺ H.P. Blavatsky agreed with Gerald Massey, the famous Egyptologist that ʺMythology was a primitive mode of thinking the early thought….Mythology is the repository of manʹs most ancient science…when truly interpreted once more, it is destined to be the death of those false theologies to which it has unwittingly given birth.ʺ But she insistently added that ʺevery symbol in papyrus or olla is a many‐faced diamond, each of whose facets not merely bears several interpretations, but relates likewise to several sciences.ʺ Here ʹprimitiveʹ does not mean ʹcrudeʹ but rather, as originally the word indicated, ʹearlyʹ or ʹfirst, prime,ʹ and ʹscienceʹ has the broad meaning of coherent body of knowledge, broader than the restricted use of the word often found today. Symbols are embedded in the myths of all nations and times, conditioning and guiding human perspectives on life and the world, enhancing self‐understanding, and in general making sense of what lies within and beyond the capacity of rigidly defined concepts and even words to express. Theosophy teaches that each human being is on a long spiritual journey, a path that rises and falls as individuals act and react to situations presented by karma, passing through myriad lives as each soul works out its destiny. 2 Symbols of The Eternal Doctrine Symbols are and have always been crucial to that journey, in part because of their multi‐faceted richness of meaning. In this sense, for any individual, a symbol has both an exoteric or public side and esoteric or hidden dimensions. What is exoteric is what an individual can understand at the moment when reflecting on the symbol. What is esoteric are all the levels and layers of meaning and spiritual nuance that are not yet clear to the individual. But what is obscure to one may be clear to another, and yet both may understand, use and meditate upon the same symbol in his or her own way. And symbols can even intimate that which lies beyond all understanding. Symbols are thus always invitations to broader, deeper understanding and awareness, and as such they nurture the spiritual intuition of the seeker. And all are seekers. Professor Raghavan Iyer launched the journal Hermes in 1975. Widely recognized by the world for his philosophical, ethical and political contributions to India, England and America, he imbued the creation of Hermes with a unique blend of erudition and spiritual insight. He envisaged an article in each monthly issue devoted to the elucidation of a symbol and invited Helen Valborg to undertake the long‐term commitment to writing them.