Esoteric Christianity, or The Lesser MysteriesBesant, Annie
Religion
Esoteric Christianity, or The Lesser Mysteries
Besant, Annie
Christianity -- Miscellanea; Mysticism; Theosophy
In every religion there exist sounds of a peculiar character, called
"Words of Power," consisting of sentences in a particular language
chanted in a particular way; each religion possesses a stock of such
sentences, special successions of sounds, now very generally called
"mantras," that being the name given to them in the East, where the
science of mantras has been much studied and elaborated. It is not
necessary that a mantra--a succession of sounds arranged in a particular
manner to bring about a definite result--should be in any one particular
language. Any language can be used for the purpose, though some are more
suitable than others, provided that the person who makes the mantra
possesses the requisite occult knowledge. There are hundreds of mantras
in the Samskrit tongue, made by Occultists of the past, who were
familiar with the laws of the invisible worlds. These have been handed
down from generation to generation, definite words in a definite order
chanted in a definite way. The effect of the chanting is to create
vibrations, hence forms, in the physical and super-physical worlds, and
according to the knowledge and purity of the singer will be the worlds
his song is able to affect If his knowledge be wide and deep, if his
will be strong and his heart pure, there is scarcely any limit to the
powers he may exercise in using some of these ancient mantras.
As said, it is not necessary that any one particular language should be
used. They may be in Samskrit, or in any one of the languages of the
world, in which men of knowledge have put them together.
This is the reason why, in the Roman Catholic Church, the Latin language
is always used in important acts of worship. It is not used as a dead
language here, a tongue "not understanded of the people," but as a
living force in the invisible worlds. It is not used to hide knowledge
from the people, but in order that certain vibrations may be set up in
the invisible worlds which cannot be set up in the ordinary languages of
Europe, unless a great Occultist should compose in them the necessary
successions of sounds. To translate a mantra is to change it from a
"Word of Power" into an ordinary sentence; the sounds being changed,
other sound-forms are created.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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