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Thus Have I Heard THUS HAVE I HEARD B. P. WADIA THEOSOPHY COMPANY (INDIA) PVT. LTD. Mumbai 400 020 “THUS HAVE I HEARD” “False learning is rejected by the wise, and scattered to the winds by the Good Law. Its wheel revolves for all, the humble and the proud. The Doctrine of the Eye’ is for the crowd; The ‘Doctrine of the Heart’ for the elect. The first repeat in pride: ‘Behold, I know’; the last, they who in humbleness have garnered, low confess: Thus Have I Heard’.” “Thus Have I Heard” LEADING ARTICLES FROM “THE ARYAN PATH” SIGNED “SHRAVAKA” BY B. R Wadia Theosophy Company (India) Pvt. Ltd Theosophy Hall, 40 New Marine Lines Mumbai 400 020 Reprint: January 2006 Printed at Work Center Offset Printers (I) Pvt. Ltd., A2-32, Shah & Nahar Indl. Estate, Lower Parel, Mumbai-400 013, and published by D.S. Parajia for Theosophy Company (India) Private Ltd., Theosophy Hall, 40 New Marine Lines, Mumbai 400 020. PREFACE Shri B. P. Wadia was a devoted student of Theosophy, of H. P. Blavatsky and W. Q. Judge. He made Theosophy a “living power” in his life. He was a prolific writer. His writings are a source of inspiration to all true students of Theosophy as they shed the light of Theosophy on all problems of life. They constitute one of the best products of his creative mind. As he was a student of the “Heart Doctrine,” he was very humble and never claimed any originality. Hence, he chose the title “Thus Have I Heard,” for a series of essays written in THE ARYAN PATH, which was founded in 1930. He signed these essays “Shravaka” — Listener. The prime object of these essays was to throw the light of ancient wisdom or WISDOM-RELIGION on all problems of life so that the modem man can appreciate them and apply some of the truths in his daily life. The essays collected in this book, treat of the root of social problems, the best means of social reform and the true value and meaning of great festivals. These essays were first published in book form, on the anniversary of his passing by The Indian Institute of World Culture (I.I.W.C.), which he nourished since its inception in 1945. This book has been out of print for a long time. We are happy to republish it now. January 14, 2006 Publishers CONTENTS I. SHRI KRISHNA’S MESSAGE…………….1 Revering the “Gita” in Life……………………….2 The Greatest of All Wars………………………….4 The Perfect Listener……………………………….6 Elements and Gods………………………………...8 Our Real Friends…………………………………..10 II. LORD BUDDHA’S TEACHINGS…………12 Buddha and Shankara……………………………...13 The Spirit of Goodwill………………………….…15 On the “Dhammapada”………………………….…17 Asoka’s Statesmanship………………………….…19 The Inner Conversion of Tojo………………….…21 Good Company—Buddha’s View………………...23 Applying the Doctrine………………………….….24 The Sanchi Enshrinement……………………….…27 On Getting Rich………………………………….…29 Hunger and Happiness………………………….….31 Learning by Compassion……………………….….33 Right Livelihood…………………………………...35 To Buddha on His Birthday…………………….…37 When the Pupil is Ready the Master Appears……………………………………………...39 Heavenly Charity……………………………….…..42 Light and Life……………………………………....43 III. THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSHTRA………....45 God and Mind……………………………………....46 The Path of Purity…………………………….……48 Jamshed-I-Nauruz……………………………….....50 IV. NATIVITY OF JESUS AND HIS DOCTRINES………………………………………..53 The Birth of the Soul……………………………....54 The Festival of the Winter Solstice……………….56 Ecce Homo…………………………………………..57 “Ye Are the Salt of the Earth” ……………………58 The Festival of Christmas………………………..61 The Kingdom of God……………………………..63 V. ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY…………………65 “Thus Have I Heard—”…………………………..66 “A Cock to Aesculapius.”………………………..68 On A “Most Unusual Book”……………………..70 Comparative Study of Ideas……………………..72 The Tathagata Light………………………………74 Security and Insurance……………………………76 The Worlds Invisible……………………………..78 The Spring of the Soul……………………………80 The Festival of Lights…………………………….82 Originality and Quotation………………………..84 Politicians Need Philosophy……………………..86 The Sin of Speech…………………………………88 A Living Epic………………………………………91 “The Cedars of Lebanon” ………………………..93 The Voice of the “Zeitgeist” …………………….95 The Pursuit of Knowledge………………………..98 Death of Body and Mind………………………….100 VI. KARMA AND REINCARNATION……….102 The Power of Karma………………………………103 “Vajra”—The Thunderbolt……………………….105 God is Law…………………………………………107 Karma and Dharma………………………………..109 Human Judgment and Divine Compassion……...111 Man’s Divinity and Sophistication………………113 Reincarnation Explains……………………………115 VII. DIVINE DISCIPLINE………………………117 Words—Traps and Messengers…………………..118 Truth and Beauty…………………………………..120 Discipline and Culture…………………………….122 Self-Discipline……………………………………..123 Religion and Religions…………………………….125 The Eye of the Heart……………………………….127 From Gluttony to Rage……………………………129 Pilgrimage………………………………………….131 The World Cycle and India.............................. 133 Discipline and Self-Discipline………………….. 135 We Are the Trustees of Our Possessions………..136 The Conquest of the Great Disease………………139 The Fighting-Cocks of Turkey……………………141 VIII.ORIENTAL PSYCHOLOGY……………………..143 Psychology: European and Asiatic……………….144 Gratification of Passions………………………….146 Lust for Living and Repentance………………….148 Contentment and Resignation…………………….150 The Gem of Gems………………………………….152 Of Repentance……………………………………..154 IX. UNIVERSAL ETHICS………………………157 Defeat and Victory………………………………...158 Death of the Body………………………………….160 The Moral Order of the Universe…………………162 The Archetypal Virtue……………………………..164 Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New……………….166 The Kingdom of the True………………………….168 War and Love……………………………………….170 Hammering Out Our Character……………………172 Serenity and Salvation……………………………..174 Solidarity……………………………………………176 Joy Beyond Pleasure……………………………….178 The Power of the Mystic…………………………..180 Three Kinds of Wealth…………………………….182 Towards One World………………………………..184 X. SOME NOBLE LIVES……………………...186 The Meaning of Death (Sarojini Naidu)…………187 Goethe : A Lover of the Ancients……………………189 Balzac and the Occult…………………………………191 Hillel, the Babylonian…………………………………193 Sermons of John Donne……………………………….195 Albert Einstein…………………………………………197 Martyrs and Martyrdom (Giordano Bruno) ……………………………………..199 Real Liberty (Thoreau) ……………………………….201 XI. THE GANDHIAN WAY………………………..203 Gandhiji on Image Worship…………………………..204 Gandhiji’s Growth Towards Truth…………………...206 The Way of Peace……………………………………...208 Leadership in a Republic……………………………...210 The Sarvodaya Plan and Gandhiji…………………….212 Gandhiji’s Secular State……………………………….214 The Force of Non-Violence and the Spirit of Peace………………………………………………….216 Fear and Courage……………………………………….218 Gandhiji’s Moral Philosophy………………………….220 Freedom—Full and Partial…………………………….222 Gandhiji’s Martyrdom………………………………….224 Gandhij i on Simple Life…..…………………………..226 Moral Principles in the International World…………228 The Will to Real Freedom……………………………..230 XII. SOCIAL REFORMS……………………………..232 Capital Punishment……………………………………..233 The Dignity of Labour………………………………….235 True Democracy…………………………………………237 Money: Blessing or Curse………………………………239 Manu for Mordern Minds……………………………….241 The Coming Revolution………………………………...243 SHRI KRISHNA’S MESSAGE REVERING THE “GITA” IN LIFE Holding the reins of the war-horses for Arjuna, Sri Krishna taught the way of work and worship. In our own yuga, Gandhiji, holding the reins of a great political struggle, also taught in his own way the way of work and worship. The Gita was reborn in our times through Gandhiji’s mouth. Let us revere the teaching and not merely utter the words. True reverence to the Gita lies in daily sincere reflection over its substance and shaping mind and action accordingly. These words were spoken by India’s Governor- General. Rajaji, Speaking at the Gita- Jayanti Celebrations on the 4th of December at New Delhi, refuted the claim that the Gita supported the waging of war. It refers to the greatest of all wars, which takes place on the Field of Duty which is located in the mind of man. To do one’s duty by every duty, avoiding the dangerous turn towards the performance of another’s duty, and without calculating the profits resulting from such performance— that is the message of the ancient scripture. He who fights his own animal nature finds neither time nor inclination to fight another man. And because the animal in each one of us does not want the Divine in us to fight it, it sneaks out to give battle to other lower selves, on one selfish pretext or another. Family feuds, class struggles, nationalistic wars—all spring from the lower nature of men. The constant enemy of Arjuna was his lower nature, not Duryodhana; that enemy surrounded Arjuna as smoke surrounds fire, while Duryodhana and his mighty Kauravas were standing at a distance. The teaching, which closes the third chapter of the great book, is often overlooked. All books of the Mysteries are written in cipher. Only a few in number and often small in size, such books are archetypal—nourishing babes with milk and strong men with meat. They yield more than one meaning—one for the man of the senses, another for the man of learning, another for the disciple struggling on the Path to Holiness, and still another for the Enlightened Seer. W, Q. Judge, who made the Gita his constant and consistent companion, referred to it as the study of Adepts. It was Mr. Judge who was a very early, if not the first, modern expounder of the allegorical nature of the Gita, pointing to its symbols and interpreting them in his own inimitable way. In 1887, Mr. Judge wrote of the allegorical imagery of the Gita and stated:— “Instead of the conflict being a blemish to the poem, it is
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