the Equinox - The Hermetic Library

172
THE EQUINOX
On the 7th of March P. left Calcutta for Benares, arriving
there on the following day, and lodging at the Hôtel de Paris
he continued his concentration practices. In his diary on this
date he writes: “The fear of the future seems practically
destroyed, and during the last six months I have worked well.
This removes all possible selfishness of incentive (after 4¾ years)
Maitri Bhâvana is left, and that alone. Aum!
At Benares he visited the temples, and had a long conversation
with Sri Swami Swayam Prakashânanda Maithila; and
then after three days’ sojourn there journeyed to Agra.
“I saw the Taj. A dream of beauty,” he writes, “with appallingly evil things
dwelling therein. I actually had to use H.P.K. formula! The building soon palls;
the aura is apparent, and disgust succeeds. But the central hall is of strained
aura, like a magic circle after the banishing.”
At Agra P. met Astrologer and Geomancer Munshi Elihu
Bux; who told him that by looking hard at a point on the wall
constantly and without winking for many days he would be
able to obtain an hypnotic power even to Deadly and Hostile
Current of Will.
On the 16th P. left Agra and went to Delhi, and there on
the 23rd he was joined by D.A., and these two with their
companions on the following day journeyed to Rawal Pindi
and from this city they set out together to travel for five
months in the northern and little frequented districts of
Baltistan, and to seek that great solemnity and solitude which
is only to be found amongst the greatest mountains of earth.
With the Dhyâna Visions and Trance we arrive at another
turning point in Frater P.’s magical ascent. For several years
he had worked by the aid of Western methods, and with them
he had laid a mighty and unshakable foundation upon which