Wisdom Of The Ancients (I)

I

ICHCHHASHAKTI :

This is the long way to say 'will-power.' Actually, it is not just the power which enables one to say, ‘I can’ and ‘I will,’ but is, instead, rather more like the electric waves generated by the brain, and which can, literally, galvanise one into a special form of activity. It is the special power which enables the Adept, who is breathing correctly, to accomplish levitation. Levitation is quite possible, and rather easy to do, especially if one really has a sound reason for it. This ‘will-power’ is that which enables us to see into the future, or into the probable future, and which enables us within a limited extent to pre-order future occurrences. It is the power by which so-called 'coincidences' take place. There is no actual Western term for this, but it is a special power of the will acting at the instigation of the Overself which enables the physical body and the astral body to co-operate to an unusual extent to produce certain effects. 

IDA : 

This is a column of sensory and motory nerves on the left side of the spinal cord. These nerves, or bunches of fibers, have a special place in the relationship between the physical and astral bodies. The fibers coil around and end at the left nostril. By using certain breathing exercises one can cause palpation of the Ida, and so awaken certain dormant centres. It is not proposed to give that special breathing exercise, although others are given at the end of this Dictionary. To give this particular exercise might be to cause harm to someone who read and rushed without knowing what it was all about. One has to remember that many people will go into a library, pick up a book, and just copy out a paragraph or two to save the price of a book, and to protect those people who are trying to run before they can walk such an exercise must be omitted. 

IGNORANCE : Ignorance is lack of knowledge, lack of wisdom, and if we were not so foolishly ignorant we should not have so many troubles. The ignorant person does not know enough to know that he does not know. Perhaps the best way to explain it is : He that knows not and knows not that he knows not, he is a fool, shun him. He that knows not and knows that he knows not, he is teachable, teach him. He that knows and knows that he knows, he is wise, follow him. 

ILLUSION : This particular planet is called on other planes the World of Illusion, the world where one's senses deceive one, the world where things are very different from what they seem. People on ‘the Other Side’ think of those on the Earth as being afraid to go to Hell. Well, Earth is one of the hells, it is where we get the hell of physical experience and the hell of illusions. We look upon this world which we call the Earth, and we think it is the most wonderful thing ever. We think the whole Universe and Universes beyond were made specially and exclusively for this Earth; we think we are the only creatures alive in space; we think that millions and billions, and trillions and trillions of other worlds are empty, desolate, just put up there as a peep-show for Mankind. We think that we are Godlike creatures, the like of which has never been seen before and will never be seen again. That is illusion. Earth is a speck of dust and no more. Earth is one of the smaller specks of dirt in the sky. We think, while we are on this Earth, that we are great and powerful, we think that our riches will buy the Kingdom of Heaven. But there is no bargain basement beyond this Earth. We cannot get salvation at cut rates, we have to get rid of illusion and get down to the true meaning of things. We have to get rid of selfishness and lust, we have to get rid of our callous disregard for the other person. Until we are ready to give of ourself we cannot receive of others. It is an illusion to think that we can. 

IMAGINATION : Imagination is the picturing of one's desires or one’s fears, and imagination is the greatest force of all, greater than will-power, greater than love. It is an old lore of psychologists that in any battle between the will and imagination, the imagination always wins, and if we try to conquer imagination by brute will-power then we cause a neurotic condition. The imagination still wins because the imagination causes a breakdown, so that the imagination must conquer. There cannot be love without imagination. One imagines the charms of one's beloved, or one imagines that one has met one's ‘twin soul’ (as rare as apples on a gooseberry bush while on Earth!), and one imagines all the pleasures with love undying of being married to such-and-such a person. In passing, it needs rather more than just animal passion to keep two people in harmony. If the imagination says that one shall not do such-and-such a thing, then, no matter how strong the will, a person cannot do it. Could you, for instance, walk along a plank suspended across the tops of two ten-story buildings? No matter how strongly the plank was anchored your over-worked imagination would say that you were going to fall, and then you would fall, to the delight of the onlookers and to the profit of the Press who would be sure to be there. If you want to get results you will have to control your imagination so that it and friend will-power work together in harmony. 

INCARNATION : Homo sapiens who so often lacks the latter, is just one method of enabling an Overself to gain experience. There are people on an enormous number of planets, as is now being recognized by reputable scientists all over the world. Some of them are trying to tune in on radio messages from other worlds, and even as long ago as the beginning of the century a very famous man; Nicholas Tesla, who was one of the inventors of the radio tube or valve (depending on whether you are in the U.S.A. or England), reported that he had received signals from another planet. Marconi reported the same, but these two eminent gentlemen were such objects of ridicule that they dropped research like a hot potato—a very hot potato. But now the U.S. Government and the U.S.S.R. Government are doing everything possible to initiate success. Possibly the Communists want to convert a few more planets to Communism. People come to this Earth to gain experience of a special kind. According to some teachings, Earth is hell! A person comes to Earth in order to have sharp experiences which can be analyzed by the Overself, and which the Overself could not gain in such a short time. People come to Earth time after time working through every sign of the Zodiac, and working through each of the quadrants of the Zodiac, in much the same way as a student at a college takes various courses of instruction in order to get a balanced knowledge. Thus a person can become Aries in one life, and the opposite sign in the next life. In succeeding incarnations the poor soul can go through all the Houses or Signs of the Zodiac, and each quadrant of each Sign, and thus gain complete experience of all the unpleasant happenings which occur to humans. When one has learned, and not had any great desire to come back to this Earth, then the person is rid of incarnations on this Earth plane. After, when one leaves as when one leaves school, one takes up the work for which one has been trained. 

INDRIYAS : More correctly it should be 'The Ten Indriyas' because there are ten organs in the body by which the Overself can gain various specialized information. There are the organs of perceptions, the organs of hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch; and the organs of more direct action which are the organs of excretion, generation, propulsion (feet), touch (hands), and taste (tongue). Each of these organs relays back through the spinal cord and up into the brain everything that is happening. The information is broadcast to the Overself, who thus is in touch with everything that is happening and becomes aware of every sensation. When this relay system breaks down we can see the results in a mental home when we look at catatonic patients. 

INTUITION : A process under which the physical body is given a glimpse of something which normally in the physical body could not be known. For example, a person can be standing on a sidewalk, and can then have a sudden flash of intuition that a chimney-pot or a slate is going to fall on his head. The man cannot see the chimney-pot, and cannot hear it either, but he usually looks up in time to see the thing before it hits him! When people will believe in intuition, and give it rein to develop and blossom forth, it can be a very useful thing indeed. Actually, the Overself who is not yet ready to have the body damaged, can give a preliminary warning of a danger to come and thus to be avoided. When one gets an impression that a person is near, when a person is perhaps within six or seven feet, it does not mean that that is intuition, it just means that either telepathy or impinging or auric emanations is taking place. It is often stated that women have greater intuition than men, and if you will look at some of the illustrations in YouForever you will observe that a woman's etheric and aura have a rather different shape to that of a man, and so it gives them spiritual consolation. Presumably in the latter case they hope greater intuition. 

ISHVARAKOTI : This is an inferior type of Avatar. The person who comes to this Earth for the good of others, and who is normally free of the bonds of the Earth and thus has no Earth Karma, may be an Ishvarakoti. If he or she is dealing with individuals on a minor scale, then it will be an Ishvarakoti. An Avatar is very much more evolved and does not necessarily come from this Universe at all, nor from the next or the one after that. An Avatar is one who teaches and restores to present-day requirements ancient teachings. 

ISHWARA : Some people use this word as meaning, or indicating, God. This is particularly so among the Brahmans. The actual meaning is ‘Divine willer,’ the Supreme Giver. It is a Perfect Being who has compassion for struggling humanity because the Being has worked through all the rounds of existence and knows how difficult it can be, and having suffered the Being has sympathy and understanding.

T.L. Rampa., Wisdom of the Ancients (1965), Letter I, Pg 56-60.

Wisdom Of The Ancients (F)

F

FA: This is from the Chinese and it denotes the law or regulations. It indicates that one must follow the right precepts if one is going to make right progress. Until you can progress you will have to keep coming back to this dreary old world. 

FACE: Look at the average person, look at the lines and wrinkles on their face, look at their tense, screwed-up expression! And when they think they are meditating they become screwed-up all the more. This is unfortunate because one cannot meditate when one is tense. If you find that your face is becoming stiff, try relaxing it. Bend forward so that your face is parallel with the floor, make sure that the muscles of the face are quite slack, as slack as you can make them. See, also, that your lips are not tightly compressed, you can have your mouth slightly open if you prefer. The eyes should be either very slightly open or shut, but you must not shut them tightly because if you do you are tensing muscles. Relax the whole face, and then imagine that you are a dog who has just come out of the water sopping wet. Shake your head sharply as a dog does, so that even your ears waggle and your hair-do comes undone. Do that several times, pretend there is water on your face and you have to shake it off with sharp movements. Do this, and it really will shake out folds in your muscles. When you have done this several times sit up straight, and stretch your neck as far up as you can. Imagine that you are a giraffe or one   of those native tribes women who put rings on the neck in order that the neck may be lengthened. When you have stretched your head as far up as you can, pull it down to your shoulders as far as you can, pull it right down into your shoulders so that your neck really is compressed. Stretch up your head again, and make it come down again. Do it several times, and every third time shake your head sharply like a dog does. This will help you more than you imagine. 

FAITH: We must have faith if we are going to seek after knowledge because some things require that we have faith while we are still seeking for proof, and if a person goes seeking for a thing determined that they will not find it, then they will not find it. It is wise to hold firm to the conviction that based upon intellectual ability we can ascertain that the thing under discussion is true. In faith we try to prove that a thing is right, not, as so many do at present, try to prove that a thing is false. Faith is no idle, senseless, ignorant belief. Faith grows and grows as one explores that in which one has faith. 

FEAR: One of the greatest dangers in any form of occult study is of being afraid. In the East teachers tell the pupil, ‘Fear not for there is naught to fear but fear.’ Fear corrodes our abilities for clear perception. If we are not afraid, nothing whatever can hurt us or disturb us. Therefore—fear not. It is worth particularly noting that when one is doing astral travel there is no need for fear. Elementals or astral entities cannot hurt one, but if we are afraid, well, our fear upsets us—upsets our digestion, for instance. Again, let it be stated that no one can be harmed in the astral except by oneself, that is by getting frightened and rushing back with such a thunk that one becomes disassociated from the body. If you come back into the body with a shocking jerk and get a headache after it, the remedy is simple—rest again and go to sleep, so that your astral body can leave the physical and resettle in the correct location in the physical body. 

FO CHIAO: This is a Chinese interpretation of the Buddhist religion. As we have already stated, Buddhism is a code of living, a way of living, but in order to follow common usage it is referred to here as a religion. Fo Chiao is the Chinese name for Buddhism as a religion. 

FO HSUEH: This is Buddhist learning, Buddhism when treated as a philosophy or way of life, instead of as a religion. Again, it is from the Chinese concepts. 

FORCES: There are four forces which need concern us. They are: 

1. Natural forces: When we are at school we study a group of forces known as physics, or, if you prefer—heat, light, sound, electricity, and magnetism—and then one gets quite a dislike of poor old Pythagoras who worked out those weird and wonderful theorems which cause one so much trouble. 

2. The etheric forces: Among these is included the power of the Kundalini. Those of the second group are still connected to natural phenomena because the Kundalini, and all that it implies, gets only as far as the etheric double before becoming a metaphysical force instead of an earth-natural force. 

3. The ancient Egyptian priests specialised in this, which we might term ‘Force 3.’ They protected their tombs with thought-forms which really could make one frightfully uncomfortable. Force 3 consists of all those things which are generated from the mind, and which, once generated, go on and on perhaps for centuries, until they have dissipated their original energy. While this third force is still connected with nature, it is on a much more remote basis because we are now two stages removed from the crude, basic, natural force. 

4. This is a force which can be generated by living entities because of the power of love, hate, etc. They are quite as powerful as are any of the preceding three.  Telepathy, clairvoyance, psychometry, levitation, teleportation, etc., come under this group. Astral travelling does not come under this force, because astral travelling is just releasing the astral body from imprisonment in the physical body.

FOUR FRUITS: According to various Eastern beliefs, the Four Fruits of human life are that each Fruit shall develop and ripen and come to full growth. 

The First Fruit is that of morality and purity of thought. This makes one a decent person who is able to progress on the Spiritual Path. Secondly, there is security of position, so that the Temple of the Soul, which, naturally, is the body, is not damaged by excessive poverty or suffering. It should be stated that in some conditions one has to have poverty and suffering because of Karma, but as a general rule it is better that one is able to attain to the Middle Way—not too rich, not too poor, not starving, but not overfed. The Third Fruit is that by which one has one's legitimate desires fulfilled. It comes as a reward for right living, right thinking, right behaving. A legitimate desire does not include the desire of having a new car or a new coat, or things which are for vanity or to show off to other people. A legitimate desire is a desire to help others and to save others from unnecessary distress. It is also legitimate to desire to progress and advance, again unselfishly, again so that one may help others. The Fourth, and best, of the Fruits is that one shall speedily attain to release from the ties of this world. It means liberation from Karma, the end of one's incarnations and reincarnations upon the Earth system. When one has the last of the Four Fruits, when one has escaped from the toils of the Earth, then one can, if one is foolish, volunteer to come back to this dreary old spot to help others. When you attain to that position, and you are on the ‘Other Side,’ leave instructions that if you ever decide to volunteer your friends will have your sanity tested, because it does appear that nowadays things are rather out of hand on the Earth, and things are much too hard. However, we are in the Age of Kali, and that gloomy Age will pass away and the sun will shine again with the dawn of a new era, and with an upsurge of spiritual purity.

T.L. Rampa., Wisdom of the Ancients (1965), Letter F, Pg 45-49.