the Equinox - The Hermetic Library

THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON THE KING
therefore find almost every master of note, from Sankaracharya
down to Agamya Paramahamsa, insisting on the maintenance
to the letter of the rules of Yama and Niyama, that is absolute
Chastity in body and mind amongst their pupils.*
Now P. proved that the strict letter of the law of Chastity
had no more to do with the ultimate success of attainment
than refusing to work on a Sabbath had to do with a free pass
to the Celestial regions, unless every act of chastity was
computed and performed in a magical manner, each act becoming
as it were a link in one great chain, a formula in one
great operation, anoperation not leading to Chastity, the
symbol, but beyond Chastity to the essence itself—namely the
Âtman,—Adonai. Further he proved to his own satisfaction
that, though absolute Chastity might mean salvation to one man,
inducing in the lecherous a speedy concentration, it might be
the greatest hindrance to another, who was by nature chaste.†
flax, a frog; if a cow, a lizard; is a horse, a tiger; if roots or fruit, an ape; if a
woman, a bear. “Institutes of Manu,” xii, 55-67.
* We find Christ insisting on this absolute chastity of body and mind, in a
similar manner, and for similar reasons; for the Eastern Jew if he is not actually
doing something dirty, is sure to be thinking about it.
† The reason for this is very simple. Take for example a glutton who lives
for his palate and his stomach; he is always longing for tasty foods and spends
his whole life seeking them. Let us now substitute the symbol of the Augœides
or Âtman for that of foot and drink, let him every time he thinks of food
and drink push the thought aside and in its place contemplate his Higher Self,
and the result is a natural invocation of the Âtman, Augœides, or Higher Self.
If the aspirant be an artist let him do the same with his art; if a musician, with
his music; if a poet, with his verses and rhymes. For the best foundation
to build upon is always to be found upon that which a man loves best. It is
no good asking a glutton who does not care a row of brass pins for music,
to turn music into a magical formula, neither is it of the slightest use to impress
upon a clean-minded individual the necessity of living a chaste life. It is like
tapping Samson on the shoulder, just after he has carried the gates of Gaza on
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