Occult Science in India: Part I. The Doctrine of the Pitris: Chapter VI. The First Degree of Initiation.—(Continued.)

CHAPTER VI.

THE FIRST DEGREE OF INITIATION.—(Continued.)

Morning, Noon, and Evening Sandyas. 1

When ten years have been spent in the first degree of initiation and there still remains an equal period of time before the Grihastas and Pourohitas can become Sannyassis and Vanaprasthas, or, in other words, call arrive at the second degree of initiation, many prayers must be added to the morning, noon, and evening ceremonies of ablution.

When he has reached this period of his life the candidate is no longer his own master. He spends almost all of his time in prayers, fastings, and in mortifications of every description. His nights are partly devoted to ceremonies of evocation in the temple under the direction of the superior Guru. He eats only once a day, after sunset. All the occult forces are put in operation to modify his physiological organization and give his powers a special direction. Few Brahmins ever arrive at the second degree of initiation. The mysterious and terrible phenomena which they produce cannot be put in operation without the exercise of a supernatural power, which very few are enabled to master.

Most Brahmins, therefore, never get beyond the class of Grihastas and Pourohitas. We shall see, however, when we have finished with the prayer and external formula, the object of which is to discipline the intellect by the daily repetition of the same acts, and when we approach

the subject of the manifestations and phenomena, which the initiates of the first degree claim to perform (a claim which is apparently well founded), that their faculties have been developed to a degree which has never been equalled in Europe.

As for those who belong to the second, and particularly the third classes, they claim that time and space are unknown to them, and that they have command over man and death.

The following are the prayers which, during the second period of ten years of the first degree of initiation, are to be added to the ceremonies and invocations previously prescribed as acts of intellectual discipline intended to prevent the subject from remaining for a single instant under the influence of his own thoughts.

The evocations which we give below are met with, with slight deviations, in all the dialects of India, and are claimed by religious sects. They are also in strict conformity with the rite of the Yadjour-Veda.

The Morning Sandya.

At the end of ten years and during the ensuing ten years, if he feels strong enough to attain the imperishable, the Grihasta should recite the following prayers at his morning ablutions, in addition to those already prescribed.

He should commence all his exercises by the following evocation:

The man who is pure or impure, or who is in a perilous situation, whatever it may be, has only to invoke him whose eyes are of the same color as the lotus (pond lily) to be pure internally as well as externally, and to be saved.

He should continue by the invocation to the water:

Invocation to the Water.

O Water! consecrated by the five perfumes and by prayer, thou art pure, whether taken from the sea, from rivers, from tanks, or from well; purify thou my bode from all uncleanness.

As the traveller, weary with the heat, finds relief in the shade of a tree, so may I find in the sacred water relief from every ill and purification from all my sins.

O consecrated water! thou art the essence of sacrifice and germ of life. In thy bosom all germs have been begotten, all beings have been formed.

I invoke thee with the confidence of a child who, at the appearance of danger, rushes into the arms of his mother, who loves him tenderly. Purify me from my faults and purify all men with me.

O water! consecrated at the time of the pralaya-chao—Brahma, or the supreme wisdom—Swayambhouva, or the being existing by his own strength, dwelt under thy form. Thou wert confounded with him.

He suddenly appeared upon the vast billows which ruffled the surface of infinite space and created a form in

which he revealed himself and separated the land from the waters, which when assembled together in one spot form the vast ocean.

The unrevealed being, Brahma, who seated on the waves of the vast ether, drew from his own substance the three-faced Trimourti, which created the heavens and the earth, the air, and all the inferior worlds.

Upon terminating, he should sprinkle a few drops of water upon his head with three stalks of the sacred darba grass.

He who addresses this invocation to the water at morning, and who is thoroughly penetrated with its mystic meaning, has arrived at a high degree of sanctity.

Joining then his hands, he should say, "O Vischnou! I do this to preserve my dignity as a Grihasta."

He should then think of the superior and inferior worlds, of the spirits which inhabit them, of the spirits of the fire, of the wind, of the sun, and of all the spirits of the earth.

Raising his hand to his head, he should then call to mind all the names of Brahma, and closing his eyes, and compressing his nostrils, he should perform the evocation of that God, as follows.

Come, Brahma! come down to my bosom.

He should then figure to himself this supreme deity as

having had no beginning and as possessing all knowledge, like the Guru, the eternal principle of all things.

And he should say, Hail Brahma! thou who art the essence of everything that exists, of water, of fire, of air, of the ether, of space, and of infinity: I offer thee my adoration.

He should then evoke Vischnou, and should figure him to himself as emerging from the bosom of the water in the midst of a lotus flower.

He should then evoke Siva, saying, You who destroy and transform everything, destroy and transform everything that is impure in me.

The Grihasta should then address the following prayer to the Sun.

Invocation to the Sun.

O Sun! whose fire purifies everything, and who art the spirit of prayer, purify me from the faults which I have committed in my prayers and sacrifices, from all those which I have committed at night in thought or action, from those which I have committed against my neighbor by calumny, false witness, or coveting another's wife, by eating prohibited food, at unlawful hours, or by communication with vile men, and finally from all the impurities which I may have contracted, whether during the day or during the night.

O Sun! you give birth to fire and it is from you that the spirits receive those subtile particles which unite to form their aërial bodies.

He should trace around him the magic circles which prevent evil spirits from approaching hire.

Addressing the immortal Goddess, Nari, who is an emblem of nature in the Hindu mythology, he should then express himself in the following terms.

O illustrious Goddess! I pay homage to you; grant that when I lay aside presently this perishable envelope I may rise to higher spheres.

Placing then both hands above the copper vessel filled with water, he should then evoke the son of Kasiappa, or any other sage of past time, asking him to listen to the praises that he addresses to Nari and to recite them with him.

The spirit having appeared he should repeat in a loud voice the following words, in honor of the universal mother.

Invocation to Nari.

O divine spouse of him who moves upon the waters, preserve me, both during the day and during the night. You are of a spiritual nature.

You are the light of lights.

You are not subject to human passions.

You are eternal.

You are all-powerful.

You are purity itself.

You are the refuge of men.

You are their salvation.

You are knowledge.

You are the essence of the sacred scriptures.

By your constant fruitfulness the universe is sustained.

You are the figure of evocation.

You are prayer.

To you all sacrifices should be addressed.

You are the dispenser of every good.

Everything is in your hands; joy, sorrow, fear, hope.

You are present in the three worlds.

You have three figures.

The number three forms your essence.

Nari, the immortal virgin.

Brahmy, the universal mother.

Hyranya, the golden matrix.

Paramatma, the soul of all beings.

Sakty, the Queen of the universe.

Lakny, the celestial light.

Mariama, perpetual fruitfulness.

Agasa, the pure fluid.

Ahancara, the supreme conscience.

Conya, the chaste virgin.

Tanmatra, the union of the five elements: Air, fire, water, earth, ether.

Trigana, virtue, riches, love.

Conyabava, eternal virginity.

He should then make a vow to recite this sublime invocation, which is a source of all life and all transformation, at least three times a day.

Noon Sandya.

He should repeat the same prayers after the noon ablutions, and should perform the evocation of spirits by water.

Midnight Sandya.

Having offered the sacrifice to fire, he should then evoke the spirits of night, in the smoke of incense, saying:

Come all and listen, bear these words in mind.

Protect all travellers, and caravans, ail men who work. who suffer, who pray, or who rest, all those who, in the silence of night, carry dead bodies to the funeral pyre, those who travel deserts, or forests, or the vast ocean.

O spirits, come and listen. Bear these words in mind and protect all men. (Agrouchada-Parikchai.)

Footnotes

61:1 Translated from the Agrouchada-Parikchai.