Vol 2 Page 510

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

[The Theosophist, Vol. II, No. 3, December, 1880, pp. 47, 49, 59, 60]

[Moksha]—The abstract condition of pure spirit, almost identical with the nirvâna of the Buddhists.

[Footnote appended to Joseph Pollock’s article “Is Man only a Machine?”]

Mr. Pollock has as ably presented both sides of the case as anyone could without the help to be drawn from experimental Psychology. The materialistic argument is perfect so far as concerns the mechanical aspect of the human being; but here steps in the practitioner of Asiatic Yoga, and, displaying a group of phenomena of the possibility of which the materialist never so much as dreamed, shows us that man can only be comprehended by those who have studied him in both sides of his nature. The old maxim experientia docet, should be ever borne in mind by our modern philosophers.

[Kâma-rupa]—An illusionary form, one whose apparent solidity is a deception of the senses. Observers of “form manifestations” should ponder.

Page 511

[In his article “Satgoor Swami,” Lalla Maikoolal speaks of the Yogi whose motive power is his own will, and of the Tantras which contain several systems treating of the practical application of magnetic power. He says: “However useful, practically, this hidden power may be . . . the point should not be lost sight of, that the Siddhis of Yoga and the Tantras are only of secondary importance.” To this H. P. B. remarks:]

For phenomenalistic purposes, yes—most assuredly. But our Indian brother must remember that the West knows nothing of the existence of such a power in man; and until it does know it there can be no truly scientific researches, especially in the department of Psychology.

[The following concluding note is appended by H. P. B. to Dr. Batukram S. Mehta’s description of “A Physiological Test for Thief-Catching.”]

Dr. Batukram is quite correct in his diagnosis, and it would be well if all pretended “miracles” were examined with like common sense. But there is another method of thief-catching practiced in India in which the thief’s physiology plays no part. We refer to the “rolling-pot.” In this case the thief-finder causes without human contact a brass-pot to oscillate and finally roll over and over on its side, like a wagon-wheel, until it comes to the place where the thief or his plunder is, and there stops. Will some friend who has witnessed this experiment kindly describe the details and results of it very carefully for the benefit of our readers?

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[From H. P. B.’s Scrapbook, Vol. X, Part II, p. 511]

[The Times of India, in an article published Dee. 13, 1880, quotes a Dr. Prime, Editor of the New York Observer, stating that he does not believe that the T.S. has fifty members in the whole of the U.S.A., and that “no person of any distinction, minister or layman, is known as a member.” To this H. P. B. adds the following annotation:]

A pretty fib. The T.S. had from the beginning more than a dozen clergymen or ministers and—was not at all proud of the acquisition.