the Equinox - The Hermetic Library

THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON THE KING
seeing if it would interrupt P.’s meditation. The result on the
first occasion was a bad break; second, two bad breaks; third to
sixth, no breaks occurred. At the end of the experiment P.
was able to repeat all Mâitrânanda had said except the last
remark.*
August
9th. Practised Mental Muttering of the Mantra: “Namo Shivaya Namaha
Aum.” I found that with Rechaka the voice sounds as if from the Con-
fines of the Universe: but with the Puraka as if from the third eye. Whilst
doing this in the Saivite Â’sana.† I found the eyes, without conscious
volition, are drawn up and behold the third eye. (Ajna Chakkra.)
10th. A day of revelation of Arcana. Ten minutes A’sana and breathing exer-
cise. Latter unexpectedly trying. Also practised Mental Muttering
whilst in Â’sana. Repeating “Namo Shivaya Namaha Aum,” which takes,
roughly, 86 seconds for 50 repetitions, i.e. about 1,000 in half an hour. I
practised this Mantra for thirty minutes: 10 minutes aloud; 10 minutes in
silence; 10 minutes by hearing.‡
11th. Recited the Mantra for about 1½ hour while painting a talisman.
* Any who have undergone this test will readily understand how severe it
is. The speaker says something with a view to break the meditation of the
meditator. Meanwhile the meditator must so strengthen his will, that he wills
to remain in his meditation uninterrupted; and yet in the end, though his mind
has never wandered in contemplating the object meditated upon, he, nevertheless,
has to repeat what the speaker said; which when the will is very strong
may not even be heard as a sound, let alone as a coherent sentence. The will
has to keep the thinking faculty of the meditator from interrupting the medita-
tion; but meanwhile the thinking faculty without in any way breaking the
meditation has to receive the message of the speaker and deliver it unimpaired
to the meditator directly the meditation is at an end. This experiment, except
that it is carried out by an act of will, differs very slightly, if at all, from those
moments in which whilst absorbed in some work, we hear a clock strike, and
only realize that the clock has struck a certain hour some considerable time
after the event.
† The Thunderbolt: see Illustration in THE EQUINOX, vol. i, No. I.
‡ I.e., no longer uttering the Mantra, but listening to the Mystic Voice of
the Universe saying it.
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