A Collection of Esoteric Writings of T. Subba Row

Front matter

A

COLLECTION

OF

Preface

.

Whilst presenting this little volume to the public, we cannot but pay due tribute to the memory of one who had done such good service to the cause of Occult Science. The late lamented Mr. T. Subba Row, b.a., b.l., of the Madras University, was one of the highest Occultists of Southern India. We tried our utmost to collect as many facts relating to his life as we could possibly get from his relatives and friends, to enable us to write a short sketch of his life to go with this book. But, we regret to say, that our endeavours in this direction have been without fruit. We have, therefore, had no alternative but to reproduce the notice of his death taken by Col. H. S. Olcott, in the "Theosophist," in its place.

Mr. Subba Row was a member of the Theosophical Society, and was highly respected not only by all its members, but also by Madame H. P. Blavatsky, for his great erudition and proficiency in almost all the branches of Occult Science. Madame Blavatsky used always to consult him whenever there were difficult and intricate problems to be solved. And we know she had, at one time, sent the manuscripts of her most valuable work, "The Secret Doctrine," to him for correction and alteration; but he declined to undertake the work because he believed the world was not yet prepared to accept the disclosures of those secrets which had been, for good reason, hitherto kept within the knowledge of the sacred few.

Mr. T. Subba Row had written no book on Occult Science, but he has left behind him a series of lectures and articles which he used every now and then to contribute to the "Theosophist," and which display the real depth of his knowledge, and his worth as an Occultist. He, in the year 1887, at the Convention of the Theosophical Society, held at Adyar, Madras, gave a course of lectures to assist Theosophists and others in their study of the Philosophy of Bhagwad Gita. We all know how difficult to understand is the Philosophy of the Gita, notwithstanding the commentaries written thereon in Sanskrit as well as in many modern Eastern and even Western languages. The reason of this is obvious. Everyone acquainted with the description of the great war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas knows that the Bhagwad Gita was preached by Bhagwan Shri Krishna to his friend and disciple Arjun, because of the disinclination expressed by the latter to fight on the battlefield. This description, as a matter of course, as there was no time to be lost, must have been recited in a short space of time, in the form of Aphorisms in short sentences, conveying a deep hidden meaning. Shri Krishna knew that Arjun was able accurately to comprehend in all its fullness the significance of this teaching.

Mr. Subba Row has written a commentary on this Philosophy, and has done his best to make it as elucidative, consistent, and clear as possible. We have printed these lectures in a separate book, and the readers will find on its study what an amount of learning the lecturer must have had.

These very lectures are conspicuous for the fact of having created between Mr. Subba Row and Madame Blavatsky a difference of opinion regarding the Koshas (कोश) or principles of which the human being is formed. This resulted in a written controversy between them, which the reader will find reprinted in this book.

Though most of the articles reproduced here are of controversial character, the reader will find them of sterling worth and merit on account of the originality of thought displayed and the able treatment of the various points controverted. And, moreover, they teem with learned and useful suggestions for progress of the students of Occult Science. Those who had read and studied these articles in the various numbers of the "Theosophist," as they appeared from time to time, had more than once requested us to reprint them in a collected form for the benefit to students of Occult learning.

Besides these articles, we are in possession of several notes of a miscellaneous character, regarding the private instructions given by Mr. T. Subba Row to the "chosen few" who had the good fortune to be in close contact with him. But we are sorry to say that they are incomplete, and were given by him only under the pledge of secrecy. It has, therefore, been thought desirable not to publish them. Mr. T. Subba Row had also made contributions to the local newspapers and magazines, but we think it unnecessary to reprint these, as they are solely on questions political and social.

Here we cannot help thanking our respected brother, the Hon'ble Mr. Subramaniyar for the valuable help, pecuniary and otherwise, he has rendered us in publishing some of our works.

Bombay, 1st April 1895. | T. T.

A Sketch of the Life of the Late T. Subba Row, B.A., B.L., F.T.S.

A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE LATE

T. SUBBA ROW, B. A., B. L., F. T. S.

The announcement, I am now compelled to make of the death of this brilliant young Indian mystical philosopher, will shock the Theosophical reading public. Wherever our work has extended, there has his reputation spread. He was an intellectual phenomenon, and his mental history goes as far as anything conceivable to support the theory of palingenesis. The facts bearing upon the case, as I derived them from his venerable mother on the day of the cremation, will presently be given. When he last visited the Headquarters, the first week in April last, the mysterious cutaneous disease to which he ultimately succumbed, had begun to show itself in an outbreak of boils. Neither he nor either of us dreamt that it was at all serious. But shortly after he had to keep to his room, then to his lounge, and he never went out again save once, when he was taken to a different house for change of air. In the beginning of June he sent me a touching request to come and see him, which of course, I did. He was a piteous sight: his body a mass of sores from crown to sole, and he not able to bear even a sheet over him, nor to lie in any comfortable position, not get sound sleep. He was depressed and despairing, and begged me to try if I could not help him a little by mesmerism. I did try with all my will, and it seemed with some success, for he began to mend from that evening, and at my third visit he and I thought he was convalescent, and so informed his unhappy family. But suddenly there came a relapse, his disease finished its course rapidly, and, on Tuesday, the 24th June, at 10 p. m., he expired, without a word or a sign to those about him.

The last wordly business he attended to was to declare on the morning of 24th idem in the presence of his relatives and friends, among them, Dewan Bahadur P. Shrinivasa Rao, that he had authorized his wife to adopt a son after his death—there being no issue of his marriage.

At noon on that day, he said his Guru called him to come, he was going to die, he was now about beginning his tâpas (mystical invocations), and he did not wish to be disturbed. From that time on, he spoke to no one. When he died, a great star fell from the firmament of Indian contemporary thought. Between Subba Row, H. P. Blavatsky, Damodar and myself there was a close friendship. He was chiefly instrumental in having us invited to visit Madras in 1882, and in inducing us to choose this city as the permanent Head-quarters of the Theosophical Society. Subba Row was in confidential understanding with us about Damodar's mystical pilgrimage towards the North, and more than a year after the latter crossed into Tibet, he wrote him about himself and his plans. Subba Row told me of this long ago, and reverted to the subject the other day at one of my visits to his sick-bed. A dispute—due in a measure to third parties—which widened into a breach, arose between H. P. B. and himself about certain philosophical questions, but to the last he spoke of her, to us and to his family, in the old friendly way. When we last saw each other we had a long talk about esoteric philosophy, and he said that as soon as he could get out, he should come to Head-quarters and draft several metaphysical questions that he wished Mr. Fawcett to discuss with him in the Theosophist. His interest in our movement was unabated to the last, he read the Theosophist regularly and was a subscriber to H. P. B.'s Lucifer.

Our great Vedantin was of the Niyogi caste of the Smartha (Advaita) Brahmans. He was born on the 6th July 1856. At the time of his death he was aged but nearly 34 years. His native country was the Godavery District on the Coromandal Coast of India; his vernacular tongue the Telugu. His grandfather was the Sheristedar of the District, and his maternal uncle was Dewan (Prime Minister) to the Rajah of Pittapur. His father died when he was but six months' baby, and the uncle brought him up. He first attended the Coconada Hindu School, where he was not at all suspected of possessing any surprising talent. He passed his first Matriculation examination at the Hindu School, Coconada, then under the direction of Mr. J. Kenny. From thence he passed in 1872, into the Madras Presidency College, where his career was a brilliant one, and ended in his passing B. A. in 1876 as the first of the University in his class. In the latter part of the same year that astute satesman, Sir T. Madhava Row, then Dewan of Baroda, offered him the Registrarship of the High Court of that State, and Subba Row stopped there about a year, but then returned to Madras and prepared himself for and passed the B. L. examination, number 4 in the class. Having adopted the law as his profession, he served his apprenticeship under Messrs. Grant and Laing and was enrolled a Vakil (Pleader) of the High Court in the latter part of 1880. His practice became lucrative, and might have been made much more so had he given less attention to philosophy; however, as he told me, he was drawn by an irresistible attraction. As an example of his extraordinary cleverness, his friends cite his successful passing of the examination in geology for the Statutory Civil Service in 1885, though it was a new subject to him, and he had had only a week for preparation. He leaves a young widow of 24 years, and an aged mother—herself a learned Brahman lady—who mourns the loss of her great son, the pride of her soul, most bitterly. The cremation took place at 9 o'clock on the morning after his death. Our brother, Judge P. Sreenivas Row, was with him at the last, and T. Vijiaraghava Charlu saw him two hours before the event occurred.

It is remarked above that T. Subba Row gave no early signs of possessing mystical knowledge: even Sir T. Madhava Row did not suspect it in him while he was serving under him at Baroda. I particularly questioned his mother on this point, and she told me that her son first talked metaphysics after forming a connection with the Founders of the Theosophical Society: a connection which began with a corres between himself and H. P. B. and Damodar, and became personal after our meeting him, in 1882, at Madras. It was as though a storehouse of occult experience, long forgotten, had been suddenly opened to him; recollection of his last preceding birth came in upon him; he recognized his Guru, and thenceforward held intercourse with him and other Mahatmas; with some, personally at our Head-quarters, with others elsewhere and by correspondence. He told his mother that H. P. B. was a great Yogi, and that he had seen many strange phenomena in her presence. His stored up knowledge of Sanskrit literature came back to him, and his brother-in-law told me that if you would recite any verse of Gita, Brahma-Sutras or Upanishads, he could at once tell you whence it was taken and in what connection employed. Those who had the fortune to hear his lectures on Bhagvad Gita before the T. S. Convention of 1886 at Adyar, can well believe this, so perfect seemed his mastery of that peerless work. For a man of his abilities, he left scarcely any monument the paper she contributed to these pages and the one-volume Report of his four Adyar Lectures being almost his entire literary remains. As a conversationalist he was most brilliant and interesting; an afternoon's sitting with him was as edifying as the reading of a solid book. But this mystical side of his character he showed only to kindred souls. What may seem strange to some is the fact that, while he was obedient as a child to his mother in wordly afiairs, he was strangely reticent to her, as he was to all his relatives and ordinary acquaintances, about spiritual matters. His constant answer to her importunities for occult instruction was that he "Dared not reveal any of the secrets entrusted to him by his Guru." He lived his occult life alone. That he was habitually so reserved, gives the more weight to the confidential statements he made to the members of his own household.

H. S. O.

The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac

COLLECTION OF ESOTERIC WRITINGS

OF

T. SUBBA ROW, F.T.S., B.A., B.L.

THE TWELVE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC.

The division of the Zodiac into different signs dates from immemorial antiquity. It has acquired a world-wide celebrity and is to be found in the astrological systems of several nations. The invention of the Zodiac and its signs has been assigned to different nations by different antiquarians. It is stated by some that, at first, there were only ten signs, that one of these signs was subsequently split up into two separate signs, and that a new sign was added to the number to render the esoteric significance of the division more profound and at the same time to conceal it more perfectly from the uninitiated public. It is very probable that the real philosophical conception of the division owes its origin to some particular nation, and the names given to the various signs might have been translated into the languages of other nations. The principal object of this article, however, is not to decide which nation had the honour of inventing the signs in question, but to indicate to some extent the real philosophical meaning involved therein and the way to discover the rest of the meaning which yet remains undisclosed. But from what is herein stated, an inference may fairly be drawn that, like so many other philosophical myths and allegories, the invention of the Zodiac and its signs owes its origin to ancient India.

What then is the real origin of these signs, the philosophical conception which the Zodiac and its signs are intended to represent? Do the various signs merely represent the shape or configuration of the different constellations included in the divisions, or, are they simply masks designed to veil some hidden meaning? The former supposition is altogether untenable for two reasons, viz.:—

I. The Hindoos were acquainted with the precession of equinoxes as may be easily seen from their works on Astronomy and from the almanacs published by Hindu astronomers. Consequently they were fully aware of the fact that the constellations in the various Zodiacal divisions were not fixed. They could not, therefore, have assigned particular shapes to these shifting groups of fixed stars with reference to the divisions of the Zodiac. But the names indicating the Zodiacal signs have been allowed to remain unaltered. It is to be inferred, therefore, that the names given to the various signs have no connection whatever with the configurations of the constellations included in them.

II. The names assigned to these signs by the ancient Sanskrit writers and their esoteric or literal meanings are as follows:—

The names of the signs. | The esoteric literal meanings.

1 | Mésham | Ram or Aries.

2 | Rishabham | Bull or Taurus.

3 | Mithunam | Twins or Gemini (male and female).

4 | Karkátakam | Cancer or Crab.

5 | Simham | Lion or Leo.

6 | Kanya | Virgo* or Virgin.

7 | Tula | Libra or Balance.

8 | Vrischikam | Scorpion.

9 | Dhanus | Sagittarius or Archer.

10 | Makaram | Capricornns or Crocodile.

11 | Kumbham | Aquarias or Waterbearer.

12 | Meenam | Pisces or Fish.

The figures of the constellations included in the signs at the time the division was first made do not at all resemble the shapes of the animals, reptiles and other objects denoted by the names given them. The truth of this assertion can be ascertained by examining the configurations of the various constellations. Unless the shape of the crocodile* or the crab is called up by the observer's imagination, there is very little change of the stars themselves suggesting to his idea that figure, upon the blue canopy of the starry firmament.

If, then, the constellations have nothing to do with the origin of the names by which the Zodiacal divisions are indicated, we have to seek for some other source which might have given rise to these appelations. It becomes my object to unravel a portion of the mystery connected with these Zodiacal signs, as also to disclose a portion of the sublime conception of the ancient Hindu philosophy which gave rise to them. The signs of the Zodiac have more than one meaning. From one point of view they represent the different stages of creation up to the time the present material universe with the five elements came into phenomenal existence. As the author of "Isis Unveiled" has stated in the second volume of her admirable work, "the key should be turned Seven times" to understand the whole philosophy underlying these signs. But I shall wind it only once and give the contents of the first Chapter of the History of Creation. It is very fortunate that the Sanskrit names assigned to the various divisions by the Aryan philosophers contain within themselves the key to the solution of the problem. Those of my readers who have studied to some extent the ancient "Mantra" and the "Tantra Sâstrâs" † of India, would have seen that very often Sanskrit words are made to convey a certain hidden meaning by means of certain well-known pre-arranged methods and a tacit convention, while their literal significance is something quite different from the implied meaning. The following are some of the rules which may help an enquirer in ferreting out the deep significance of the ancient Sanskrit nomenclature used in the old Aryan myths and allegories:—

Find out the synonyms of the word used which have other meanings.

Find out the numerical value of the letters composing the word according to the methods given in ancient Tântrik works.

Examine the ancient myths or allegories, if there are any, which have any special connection with the word in question.

Permute the different syllables composing the word and examine the new combinations that will thus be formed and their meanings, &c., &c.

I shall now apply some of the above given rules to the names of the twelve signs of the Zodiac.

Mésham. One of the synonyms of this word is Aja. Now, Aja literally means that which has no birth and is applied to the Eternal Brahmam in certain portions of the Upanishads. So the first sign is intended to represent Parabrahmam, the self-existent, eternal, self-sufficient cause of all.

Rishabham. This word is used in several places in the Upanishads and the Vêda to mean Pranava (Aum). Sankarâchârya has so interpreted it in several portions of his commentary.*

Mithunam. As the word plainly indicates, this sign is intended to represent the first androgyne, the Ardhanáreeswara, the bisexual Sephira-Adam Kadmon.

Karkatakam. When the syllables are converted into the corresponding numbers according to the general mode of transmutation so often alluded to in Mantra Shastra, the word in question will be represented by ////. This sign then is evidently intended to represent the sacred Tetragram; the Parabrahma-thárakam; the Pranava resolved into four separate entities corresponding to its four Mâtras; the four Avastkâs indicated by Jágrath (waking) Avastha, Swapna (dreamy) Avastha, Shushupti (deep sleep) Avastha, and Turiya (the last stage, i. e. Nirvana) Avastha, (as yet in potentiality); the four states of Brahma called Vaiswánara, Taijasa (or Hiranya-garbha), Pragna, and Eśwara and represented by Brahma, Vishnu, Mahéswara, and Sadásiva; the four aspects of Parabrahmam as Sthoolam, Sookshmam, Beejam and Sakshi; the four stages or conditions of the Sacred word named Para, Pasyanti, Madhyama and Vykhari; Nadam, Bindu, Sakti and Kala. This sign completes the first quaternary.

Simham. This word contains a world of occult meaning within itself; and it may not be prudent on my part to disclose the whole of its meaning in this article. It will be sufficient for the purpose of this article to give a general indication of its significance.

Two of its synonymous terms are Panchásyam and Hari, and its number in the order of the Zodiacal divisions (being the fifth sign) points clearly to the former synonym. This synonym—Panchásyam—shows that the sign is intended to represent the five Brhamas, viz.,—Esánam, Aghôram, Tatpurusham, Vámadêvam, and Sadyojátam—the five Buddhas. The second synonym shows it to be Náráyana, the Jeevàtma, or Pratyagátma. (The Sukarahasy Upanishad will show that the ancient Aryan philosophers looked upon Náráyana as the Jeevátma.* The Vaishnavites may not admit it. But as an Advaiti, I look upon Jeevátma as identical with Paramátma in its real essence when stripped of its fictitious attributes created by Agnánam or Avidya—ignorance.) The Jeevátma is correctly placed in the fifth sign counting from Mêsham, as the fifth sign is the putrasthânam or the son's house according to the rules of Hindu Astrology. The sign in question represents Jeevátma—the son of Paramátma as it were. (I may also add that it represents the real Christ, the anointed pure spirit, though the missionaries may frown at this interpretation.)* I will only add here that unless the nature of this sign is fully comprehended it will be impossible to understand the real order of the next three signs and their full significance. The elements or entities that have merely a potential existence in this sign become distinct, separate entities in the next three signs. Their union into a single entity leads to the destruction of the phenomenal universe, and the recognition of the pure spirit, and their separation has the contrary effect. It leads to material earth-bound existence and brings into view the picture gallery of Avidya (Ignorance) or Mâya (Illusion). If the real orthography of the name by which the sign in question is indicated is properly understood it will readily be seen that the next three signs are not what they ought to be. Kanya or Virgo and Vrischikam or Scorpio should form one single sign, and Tula must follow the said sign if it is at all necessary to have a separate sign of the name. But a separation between Kanya and Vrischikam was effected by interposing the sign Tula between the two. The object of this separation will be understood on examining the meaning of the three signs.

Kanyá means a virgin and represents Sakti or Mahámáya. The sign in question is the 6th Rási or division and indicates that there are six primary forces in nature. These forces have different sets of names in Sanskrit philosophy. According to one system of nomenclature they are called by the following names:—(1) Parásakti; (2) Gnánastaki; (3) Itchásakti (will-power); (4) Kriyásakti; (5) Kundalinisakti; and (6) Matrikásakti.* The six forces are in their unity represented by the Astral light.*

Tula. When represented by numbers according to the method above alluded to, this word will be converted into 36. This sign, therefore, is evidently intended to represent the 36 Tatwams. (The number of Tatwams is different according to the views of different philosophers; but by Sâktêyás generally and by several of the ancient Rishis such as Agastya, Doorwása and Parasuráma, &c., the number of Tatwams has been stated to be 36). Jeevátma differs from Paramátma, or to state the same thing in other words, "Baddha" differs from "Mukta" † in being encased as it were within these 36 Tatwams, while the other is free. This sign prepares the way to earthly Adam, to Nara. As the emblem of Nara it is properly placed as the seventh sign.

Vrischikam. It is stated by ancient philosophers that the sun when located in this Rási or division is called by the name of Vishnu (see the 12th Skandha of Bhâgavata). The sign is intended to represent Vishnu. Vishnu literally means that which is expanded-expanded as Viswam or Universe. Properly speaking, Viswam itself is Vishnu (see Sankaráchârya's commentary on Vishnusahasranâmam). I have already intimated that Vishnu represents the Swapnávastha or the Dreamy State. The sign in question properly signifies the Universe in thought or the universe in the divine conception.

It is properly placed as the sign opposite to Rishabham or Pranava. Analysis from Pranava downwards leads to the Universe of Thought, and synthesis from the latter upwards leads to Pranava (Aum). We have now arrived at the ideal state of the universe previous to its coming into material existence. The expansion of the Beejam or primitive germ into the universe is only possible when the 36 "Tatwams"* are interposed between the Máya and Jeevátma. The dreamy state is induced through the instrumentality of these "Tatwams." It is the existence of these Tatwams that brings Hamsa into existence. The elimination of these Tatwams anarks the beginning of the synthesis towards Pranava and Brahmam and converts Hamsa into Sôham. As it is intended to represent the different stages of creation from Brahmam downwards to the material universe, the three signs Kanya, Tula, and Vrischikam are placed in the order in which they now stand as three separate signs.

Dhanus (Sagittarius). When represented in numbers, the name is equivalent to 9, and the division in question is the 9th division counting from Mêsham. The sign, therefore, clearly indicates the 9 Brahmâs—the 9 Parajâpatîs who assisted the Demiurgus in constructing the material universe.

Makaram. There is some difficulty in interpreting this word; nevertheless it contains within itself the clue to its correct interpretation. The letter Ma is equivalent to number 5 and Kara means hand. Now in Sanskrit Tribhujam means a triangle, bhujam or karam (both are synonymous) being understood to mean a side. So, Makaram or Panchakaram means a Pentagon.*

Now, Makaram is the tenth sign and the term "Dasadisa" is generally used by Sanskrit writers to denote the faces or sides of the universe. The sign in question is intended to represent the faces of the universe and indicates that the figure of the universe is bounded by Pentagons. If we take the pentagons as regular pentagons (on the presumption or supposition that the universe is symmetrically constructed) the figure of the material universe will, of course, be a Dodecahedron, the geometrical model imitated by the Demiurgus in constructing the material universe. If Tula was subsequently invented and if, instead of the three signs "Kanya," "Tula" and "Vrischikam," there had existed formerly only one sign combining in itself Kanya and Vrischikam, the sign now under consideration was the eighth sign under the old system, and it is a significant fact that Sanskrit writers generally speak also of "Ashtadisa" or eight faces bounding space. It is quite possible that the number of disa might have been altered from 8 to 10 when the formerly existing Virgo-Scorpio was split up into three separate signs.

Again, Kara may be taken to represent the projecting triangles of the five-pointed star. This figure may also be called a kind of regular pentagon (see, Todhunter's Spherical Trigonometry, p. 148). If this interpretation is accepted, the Rasi or sign in question represents the "Microcosm." But the "microcosm" or the world of thought a really represented by Vrischikam. From an objective point of view the "microcosm" is represented by the human body. Makaram may be taken to represent simultaneously both the microcosm and the macrocosm, as external objects of perception.

In connection with this sign I shall state herein a few important facts which I beg to submit for the consideration of those who are interested in examining the ancient occult sciences of India. It is generally held by the ancient philosophers that the macrocosm is similar to the microcosm in having a Sthoola Saríram and a Sookshma Saríram. The visible universe is the Sthoola Sariram of Viswam; the ancient philosophers held that as a substratum for this visible universe, there is another universe—perhaps we may call it the universe of Astral Light—the real universe of Noumena, the soul as it were of this visible universe. It is darkly hinted in certain passages of the Vêda and the Upanishads that this hidden universe of Astral Light is to be represented by an Icosahedron. The connection between an Icosahedron and a Dodecahedron is something very peculiar and interesting though the figures seem to be so very dissimilar to each other. The connection may be understood by the undermentioned geometrical construction. Describe a Sphere about an Icosahedron; let perpendiculars be drawn from the centre of the Sphere on its faces and produced to meet the surface of the Sphere. Now, if the points of intersection be joined, a Dodecahedron is formed within the Sphere. By a similar process an Icosahedron may be constracted from a Dodecahedron. (See Todhunter's Spherical Trigonometry, p. 141, art. 193). The figure constructed as above described will represent the universe of matter and the universe of Astral Light as they actually exist, I shall not now, however, proceed to show how the universe of Astral Light may be considered in the light of an Icosahedron. I shall only state here that this conception of the Aryan philosophers is not to be looked upon as mere "theological twaddle" or as the outcome of wild fancy. The real significance of the conception in question can, I believe, be explained by reference to the psychology and the physical science of the ancients. But I must stop here and proceed to consider the meaning of the remaining two signs.